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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29875983">Oceanic Legacies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_250_501/pseuds/fangirl_250_501'>fangirl_250_501</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lost</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Lost (TV) Spoilers, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:28:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>31,561</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29875983</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fangirl_250_501/pseuds/fangirl_250_501</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Over 20 Years after the crash of Oceanic flight 815, a new generation makes their way to the island.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elizabeth Austen opened her eyes to be greeted by a blindingly clear blue sky penetrated by tall trees.</p><p>Everything ached. She could barely sit up, and the pounding her her head only got worse. But she had to get up, she had to see it for herself.</p><p>Elizabeth stumbled through the jungle, everything feeling so familiar even though she had never actually been there. The beach, she just had to get to the beach. That’s where they would be, she knew. That was their plan.</p><p>“Is anyone there?!” She shouted, adrenaline taking over as she started to run. There was a faint sound of screams in the distance, letting Elizabeth know that she was close.</p><p>She burst out of the jungle, and for a moment, everything seemed serene. The sand of the beach was soft, and the waves were smooth. The sun was high in the sky, and there was barely a cloud in sight.</p><p>But it wasn’t a peaceful beach, and it wasn’t a normal island.</p><p>Elizabeth only had to go a few feet to her left when she saw it: The plane, or at least, what remained of it. The tail section was gone completely, but the cockpit was lying just a few feet away from the fuselage.</p><p><em>So it’s not the same,</em> she mentally noted. <em>Good then, we won’t have to go on an unnecessary hike in the jungle.</em></p><p>Unfortunately, she had bigger things to worry about than the parts of the plane that were either present or missing. She had to find her friends, or at least find someone. As well as that,  they weren’t the only people on the flight, and there were clearly other survivors.</p><p>She had to think. The cockpit was present, so the plane obviously didn’t crash the same way as before. The tail section was gone, though, so that could mean something. It was already too similar, at least, similar to the stories Elizabeth had heard.</p><p>What would be there if it was an exact copy of the first crash? That was a question she should have asked herself before. If it was, what part would she play?</p><p>Not that she mattered. What did matter were the people that would need help if the theory was right: A pregnant woman, someone who previously couldn’t walk, someone looking for their child, the child in question, someone about to get sucked into a jet engine… the list went on and on.</p><p>“Help!” Came a loud shout, louder than the others. “Somebody help me!” Elizabeth was snapped out of her thoughts as she turned towards the voice and saw a girl who looked around her age with her right arm trapped under a giant piece of metal. She had extremely curly dark hair that spilled over her shoulders messily, although that was probably the least of her concerns. </p><p>“Oh thank god,” The girl sighed with relief when Elizabeth got there. She didn’t sound nearly as pained as Elizabeth would have thought, with what was happening to her arm. The girl, however, seemed to notice Elizabeth’s confusion and answered her question. “It’s a prosthetic, don’t worry. But I’m stuck, so I need you to pull it out.”                      </p><p>“What?!” She exclaimed. “I can’t pull your arm-“</p><p>“Just do it!” The girl interrupted loudly. Elizabeth nodded quickly, and positioned her hands on the arm, which was warm from the heat. <br/>She closed her eyes, remembering the story her mother always told her. For five seconds, just let the fear in. Then focus on what needed to be done.</p><p>
  <em>One. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Two.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Three.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Four.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Five.</em>
</p><p>Elizabeth pulled the arm as best she could, since it was still trapped under the metal. The girl yelled in both pain and effort, and rolled away from her limb, landing face-down on the sand, but laughing in triumph.</p><p>Since there was no longer a body attached to it, Elizabeth was able to pull the arm free, and promptly dropped it in the sand. Accidentally of course, as she wouldn’t just drop someone’s arm on purpose.</p><p>The arm looked pretty realistic, and it was dark in contrast to the sand, matching the girl’s skin tone. Who, meanwhile, seemed to have realized that since they were in the middle of a recent crash and that the plane was still unstable, it would probably best to get away.</p><p>“We should get away from here,” The girl said as she picked up her arm.</p><p>“Are you going to be able to re-attach that thing?” Elizabeth asked, frowning.</p><p>“Yeah, probably,” She replied. “Not right now, it’ll take a little bit, but I can do it. I’m Anna, by the way.”<br/>“I’m Elizabeth,” She said. “And you’re probably right, we can’t stay here, but I need to find my friends.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah of course,” Anna said. “Lucky me, I was traveling alone. Good luck, though.” Elizabeth nodded, and with that, she and Anna ran in separate directions. </p><p><em>Please let them all be alive,</em> Elizabeth mentally prayed. Being who they were, it was more likely they survived than they didn’t, but she was still worried. What if the island didn’t want them? What then?</p><p>“Daniel!” She yelled, trying to navigate through the chaos. Nothing had changed in the time that she helped Anna. People were still running around, shouting and searching for their loved ones. “Aaron! Anyone?!”</p><p>A loud scream pierced the air, and Elizabeth had just enough time to look over and see a woman being pulled into the jet engine that was somehow still spinning. She didn’t have time to react before the entire thing exploded, sending her and the others near it sprawling to the ground.</p><p>
  <em>Just like before.</em>
</p><p>The cockpit being present on the beach was her only hope of the crash not being exactly the same. Otherwise, everything was turning out mostly the same. Well, other than Anna. She didn’t remember anything about someone with a prosthetic limb. </p><p>“Elizabeth!” An unmistakable accent pulled her from her thoughts, although that sound was one that filled her with relief.</p><p>“Daniel!” She yelled back, struggling to stand after the explosion. A figure stepped into her line of sight, one that she knew all too well. It was Daniel, and he was running towards her faster than she had ever seen.</p><p>“You’re okay,” He sighed with relief as he helped her stand. “The cockpit, it’s here, she was wrong.”</p><p>“I know,” Elizabeth replied. “Did you see any of the others?”</p><p>“No,” Daniel shook his head sadly. “But I’m sure they’re fine. They know to meet at the beach, so we should just get away from the wreckage.” As he said that, a piece of debris fell from the plane, causing another explosion to occur on the other side of the wreck, further enforcing his point.<br/>Elizabeth and Daniel ran from the burning plane, far enough that they were safe from any further damage. She surveyed the people once again, hoping to see any sort of familiar face. However, she was even more surprised when the familiar face found her.</p><p>“Dan! Elizabeth!” Relief filled her as both of them turned at the sound of their names. Three people were running towards them: A girl with long dark hair, a boy with blue eyes and pale skin, and a girl with blond hair and a once-pale skin tone that was tanned from the sun.</p><p>When the three of them reached the other two, they all ended up in some sort of awkward group hug, although Elizabeth didn’t care. She was just glad they were alive.</p><p>“Does anyone remember the exact words of the theory?” Elizabeth asked breathlessly. They had all memorized it, but in the chaos, she just couldn’t form the words in her mind. In her opinion, it was crucial that they figured out what parts of it were true.</p><p>“I think we have bigger things to worry about right now,” The dark haired girl, Ji Yeon, snapped, clearly angry. “For example: Where the hell is Charlie?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Daniel replied worriedly at the mention of his older brother. “I haven’t seen him. Clem, Aaron, what about you?”</p><p>“Well if we <em>did</em>, he would be here,” The other girl, Clementine, said. Clearly, she and Ji Yeon were in similar moods, which wasn’t surprising considering they had just been in a plane crash.</p><p>“We’ll find Charlie,” Said the boy, Aaron, calmly. “The five of us made it, so he should too.” If the theory was right, Elizabeth added silently. And so far, because of the cockpit and Anna, it wasn’t.</p><p>Daniel smoothed his messy brown hair back, his blond highlights more present than ever in the sun. Clearly he was worried about his brother, and Elizabeth couldn’t blame him. She didn’t have any biological siblings, with her father having died before she was born and her mother having no children other than her, but Aaron was basically her brother, and if he was missing, she wouldn’t stop looking for him.</p><p>“The theory was,” Ji Yeon began, suddenly breaking the silence. She was best under pressure, so it wasn’t surprising that she had regained her bearings first. “That if we flew an Oceanic flight from Sydney to LA, on the exact day flight 815 crashed, the crash itself would turn out the same, or mostly the same. 21 years later, in our case, and being who we are, we would survive because the island needs us.”</p><p>“I knew this was a mistake,” Clementine muttered.</p><p>“Then why the hell did you come on the plane?!” Elizabeth retorted. She still had faith in the island, as she always did. Without it, after all, she wouldn’t exist.</p><p>“Let’s not fight,” Daniel intervened. “Charlie is still missing. We need to find him, and then find the Others.” Elizabeth nodded, backing away slightly. She looked back out at the broken plane, and the reality of it all set in. People died in the crash, and people were probably going to die even after.</p><p>And it was all their fault.</p><p>											…</p><p>
  <em>Being who she was and what her family history was, Elizabeth probably should have hated flying.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But she didn’t. She loved the feeling of being in the air, the takeoff and the landing. A lot of the times she wished that she could fly on her own, to just soar through the air like a bird.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>However, that particular flight was not one that she enjoyed. Not because of the flight itself, but because Elizabeth knew that it wouldn’t be landing in its intended destination.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her friends were scattered across the plane, and she had to hold herself back from going over to any of them. Her mother told her that flight 815 was in the air for six hours before it crashed, meaning that the flight she was on was going down soon.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As if on cue, the plane started to shake. Only slightly, but enough to make Elizabeth nearly jump out of her seat. Her self-control diminished, she glanced a few rows behind her to see who was closest, and found the familiar brown eyes of Daniel Hume.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They made eye contact for only a moment when the plane started to shake again. It wasn’t like a minute ago, which had just been light turbulence. The plane jolted violently, sending anyone without a seatbelt on flying forward or to the ceiling. Bags dropped out of the overhead compartments as the plane began to spiral out of control.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>They were going down.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nao Tanaka was having a really bad day.</p><p>Everything that could possibly be going wrong was. They overslept? Check. Traffic? Check. They were purposefully misgendered by their coworkers? Double check.</p><p>Oh yeah, and of course, the plane they were co-piloting crashed. </p><p>That alone made it quite possibly the worst day of Nao’s life.</p><p>They had been excited to get back to Los Angeles, where most of their family lived, having moved there from Japan a few years ago. Oceanic, however, had them on flights all across the world. It might have been nice, considering they got to travel to all of the places they wanted to see when they were younger, but it wasn’t as if they could go that far from the airport. </p><p>What Nao really wanted was to be the captain of a flight, but since they were currently stuck on an island, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.</p><p>Oh well. </p><p>There was also the small problem that the pilot was dead.</p><p>Okay, so maybe that was a big problem, but Nao would deal with that later. For now, they had to figure out where they were, how many people were left, and how they were going to survive. It was their responsibility, after all, since they were the only pilot left.</p><p>However, before Nao could do anything about their current situation of being stuck in the cockpit, someone else beat them to the punch. A man with messily cut dirty blond hair had entered through the back, where the cockpit had broken apart from the rest of the plane.</p><p>“Is anyone alive in here?!” He shouted, his voice booming throughout the empty front section full of bodies. “Hello?”</p><p>“I’m here!” Nao yelled back, unable to turn around due to the tree that had impaled the pilot blocking them from standing. Their voice was hoarse, although they didn’t really expect anything less. “I’m alive.” They could hear the sound of footsteps coming towards them, and then saw two hands in front of them, trying to shove the tree away.</p><p>“It’s…. too… big.” He grunted, his hands visibly red. Nao was able to turn their head enough to look at him, and saw that his face was twisted in concentration. Despite everything, they laughed.</p><p>The man sighed and let go of the tree, knowing that there was nothing he could do to move it. At hearing Nao’s little laugh, he looked up at them incredulously and said: “You think this is funny?”</p><p>“No, no,” Nao replied. “Your concentration face was just a little funny.”</p><p>“Oh,” He said, looking slightly perplexed at Nao’s observation. “So, uh, you’re the pilot?” Nao, instead of saying anything, gestured, or at least attempted to gesture, to the dead man sitting in the seat a few feet away from them.</p><p>He looked down, clearly embarrassed that he had made such a mistake, leaving them feeling equally awkward in the situation.</p><p>“I’m Nao,” They said, trying to break the silence. “Nao Tanaka, I’m the co-pilot.”</p><p>“Aaron Littleton,” He replied. “I’m, well, one of the passengers. I came with a few friends.”<br/>
“It’s great to meet you, Aaron, but do you think you could get one of those friends to help get this tree off of me?” Nao asked. Aaron smacked his hand against his forehead as if that was the obvious thing he should have done before nodding and running out of the cockpit, leaving them alone again.</p><p>											…</p><p>Aaron, along with a very strong friend of his named Clementine had managed to lift up the tree long enough in order for Nao to get out of their seat. They had a large gash on their left leg, and their right arm was covered in scrapes from when they had shielded themself from the tree when it had fallen, but otherwise, they were mostly fine. </p><p>Once they were out of the cockpit and onto the beach, they surveyed the damage. Some, like Aaron and his friends, had formed little groups and were either conversing or trying to find supplies. The tree had crushed the control panel and communications equipment, so there was no way to contact anyone. Hopefully, however, someone would be able to find them. </p><p>It was only once Nao saw the wreckage of the fuselage that it dawned on them: The situation was eerily similar to Oceanic flight 815.</p><p>Of course, flight 815 landed in the water, and only a few people made it out, that being the Oceanic Six, and a few others. Nao was only 7 years old when it happened, but they were already obsessed with planes, so that was something that appealed to them. They were even more shocked when more survivors were found, on a different, nearby island.</p><p>
  <em>Littleton.</em>
</p><p>Aaron said his last name was Littleton, as in <em>Claire</em> Littleton, as in an 815 survivor. Although, Nao was confused, because they did remember an Aaron among the Oceanic Six, who was the son of Kate Austen, and had her surname.</p><p>Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe. But Nao wasn’t convinced.</p><p>However, there wasn’t exactly time for figuring out who could possibly be related to the 815 survivors, since Nao, as the only surviving pilot, had to worry about the survivors of flight 442. </p><p>“Hey, everyone!” Nao yelled as they climbed up on top of a piece of wreckage. “Can I just have your attention for a second?” Surprisingly, most of the survivors turned around and walked over, most likely since they noticed Nao’s pilot uniform, some waiting patiently for them to continue while others itched to move.</p><p>“My name is Nao Tanaka,” They began. “I was the co-pilot of this flight. The pilot is dead, so that leaves me to figure all of this out. I know, I’m young and some of you probably think I don’t know what I’m doing, but I was trained for this. Now, the transceiver and communication equipment were destroyed in the crash, but hopefully the plane is still emitting a signal that will help them find us. For now, we need to conserve the food and water that we have, and we need to learn to work together. If there are any doctors or anyone with medical experience, meet me by the cockpit and we can talk about helping the wounded.” With that, they stepped down, and people soon went to work, actually listening to Nao’s words. They supposed that in the situation, any leader figure was good.</p><p>Out of the corner of their eye, Nao saw Aaron talking to two of his friends for a second before they walked into the jungle. Perhaps they were just exploring, but something about it made Nao feel like something else was going on.</p><p>												…</p><p>
  <em>The pilot Nao was flying with was alright, they supposed. He had been unsure what to call them at first, clearly unfamiliar with non-binary pronouns. He caught on quickly, however, and they could tell that he meant no malice.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nao had co-piloted Oceanic 442 more times than they could count. Meaning that they could tell the difference between small turbulence and something they would have to worry about.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So, when the plane started to shake, Nao found it hard not to panic.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh shit,” They muttered. The pilot looked over at them to see what was wrong, but was soon distracted by the plane continuing to violently shake. The controls flashed, and the plane went through a series of stomach-lurching drops as both Nao and the pilot tried to get the controls back online.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>However, as hard as they tried, it was no use. The plane was spiraling out of control, and it was going down fast.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Emma Carter didn’t think it was possible for another plane to crash on the island.</p><p>She never told anyone, but when she slept, she still dreamt of the crash of Oceanic flight 815. She saw the faces of the dead people that were buried in the sand, and she saw the bodies floating in the ocean. She herself would have been one of those bodies if it hadn’t been for Mr. Eko and Ana Lucia.</p><p>Both of whom were dead as well.</p><p>And now there was another crash, which couldn’t have come at a more inconvenient time on the island. In the 21 years that Emma was an Other, she had never seen anything like what was happening. Especially since she and her brother, who she thought she could count on for anything, who she thought she knew more than he knew himself, was on the other side of the brewing conflict of the island’s inhabitants. </p><p>But Emma had her duties, being an Other. While Zack was never fully invested in it, Emma certainly was. The island fascinated her, and she never felt like she belonged somewhere more than she did on the island. Granted, she had spent most of her life there, but she never wanted to leave.</p><p>After Jacob’s brother, or, as Emma knew him then, the smoke monster, was defeated, the island became sort of a paradise. To her, at least. In her opinion, Hugo was a better leader than Jacob ever was.</p><p>Unfortunately, a great number of Others didn’t share that opinion. However, they had been quiet about it for 21 years, up until a few months ago. Emma still didn’t know what had happened to cause the dissenters to rise up, but she had previously decided to not question it just yet. With everything that was going on, she had to trust the people she could count on.</p><p>Emma was one of the people Hugo sent out to assess the damage. Obviously they weren’t going to do what the Others did to the survivors of the 815 crash in 2004, but Hugo wanted to make sure there was no danger to the island. Although, as another Other had pointed out before Emma had left, the danger to the island was coming from within.</p><p>It scared Emma, more than she cared to admit.</p><p>She had been outside when the crash happened, and she saw that the tail section had broken off from the rest of the plane and landed elsewhere, which was exactly what happened last time. It felt like a horrible case of deja vu, except this time, she wasn’t actually on the plane.</p><p>Nobody outright said it, but everyone, including her, knew that Emma was sent to see what was going on with the crash survivors since she had been one of them once. Really, it-</p><p>“Agh!” Emma suddenly shouted as two figures emerged from the bushes. Usually she wouldn’t have given such a reaction to that, as jump scares never really bothered her, but she was not in her right mind that day.</p><p>She calmed down, however, once she took in the fact that the two of them were young. In fact, they couldn’t have been more than 20 years old. One was a girl with wavy black hair pulled back into a ponytail and a smattering of freckles across her face, while the other was a boy with messy brown hair that matched the color of his eyes. They were probably plane crash survivors, since Emma had never seen them before</p><p>“Are you one of them?” The girl asked, bringing Emma’s assumptions about her and the boy crashing down. “One of the Others?”<br/>Emma wasn’t sure what to say. The girl was clearly a crash survivor, and yet she knew about the Others?</p><p>“Who the hell are you?” Emma questioned, her hand slowly reaching towards the gun that was concealed in her belt. </p><p>“I’m Daniel, Daniel Hume, and this is Elizabeth,” The boy said. The girl, Elizabeth, looked at him sharply, making it clear that Emma wasn’t fully trusted in her eyes. </p><p><em>This is ridiculous,</em> Emma thought. <em>They’re practically kids, why are they here?</em></p><p>“Hume,” She whispered, the name finally catching up to her. “As in Desmond Hume? You’re- oh you have got to be kidding me.” Desmond Hume was something of a legend on the island, his resistance to electromagnetism seen as a superpower. However, his son had shown up at the worst possible time. “And you, who are you?” She said that last part to Elizabeth, wondering if she had a connection to the island as well.</p><p>“I’m Elizabeth Austen.”</p><p>
  <em>Shit.</em>
</p><p>“Alright, come with me,” Emma decided. “We’re going to see Hugo right now.”</p><p>										…</p><p>The Others still lived in the Barracks, the small village surrounded by a sonic fence. Well, not the dissenters, not anymore. They had relocated to the DHARMA station on Hydra Island, the small nearby island, declaring it their territory. The non-dissenters definitely got the better deal, as the houses of the Barracks were largely preferable over the polar bear cages.</p><p>As they walked through the fence, which Emma disarmed, of course, she looked back at the two of them, who were quietly whispering to each other. It was clear to her that they came to the island on purpose, and Emma honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about that. She grew up on the island, after all, and she absolutely understood having a connection to it. However, an entire plane full of people crashed to get them here, and Emma didn’t think that was something she could forgive.</p><p>“Alright,” Emma whispered as they neared the houses, stopping Daniel and Elizabeth from going any further. “If people find out you’re here and who you are, things are going to get messy. We’re gonna have to sneak around the back, to Ben’s house. It’s right over there, so I just need you to follow me.” The two of them nodded, and Emma contemplated what the best plan of action for getting there was. The back of Ben’s house faced the treeline, so it wouldn’t be too hard to get there. </p><p>She motioned for Daniel and Elizabeth to follow her, and she led them around the underbrush until all they had to do was get from Point A to Point B.</p><p>“One.” She whispered, counting to herself. “Two. Three.” Emma walked briskly towards the house, not wanting to draw attention by running. She could hear the footsteps of Elizabeth and Daniel behind her as she walked up the steps to the house and knocked on the door.</p><p>No answer.</p><p>She knocked again, with more urgency. If someone walked by, they would certainly ask what was going on, and Emma had no explanation prepared.</p><p>Just as she was about to knock again, the door opened, revealing the one and only Ben Linus.</p><p>When Emma was little, she had been scared of him, seeing as he was the leader of the people who had tried to hurt her friends. However, that time was long gone, and Ben had been working as Hugo’s trusted number two for the pasts 21 years.</p><p>“What is going on?” Ben questioned, seeing the two crashes survivors that stood behind Emma. “You weren’t supposed to bring any of them back here.”</p><p>“Trust me, this is important,” She replied. “This is Kate Austen and Jack Shephard’s daughter, and Desmond Hume’s son.” It took a moment for the words to register with Ben, but Emma could clearly see when they did. His eyes went so wide that she was sure they would pop out of their sockets, and his eyebrows were raised so high that they nearly reached his receding hairline. </p><p>He ushered for them to come in, and Emma motioned for the other two, who had remained silent through the whole thing, to follow her inside. Ben quickly closed the door behind him, locking it, before going to the front door and doing the same.</p><p>“Well,” Ben said. “There’s a lot we need to discuss.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, if you don't remember Emma (and honestly, I don't blame you), she's the girl from the tail section who was around in Season 6. I also had to give her a last name since the writers didn't, and we don't know much about her so her personality might not be exactly true to canon. Anyways, I'll see you guys next week with the next chapter!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aaron Littleton almost immediately regretted sending Elizabeth and Daniel into the jungle. </p><p>While they were both capable, they were also the youngest of the group. However, Elizabeth had insisted upon going, and Daniel had hoped that he could find Charlie while looking for the Others, killing two birds with one stone.</p><p>Ji Yeon, who was still in medical school, was with Nao and helping the people that were injured in the crash. Clementine was getting a signal fire going along with a few other survivors. Aaron had asked her why she was doing that, to which Clementine had replied that just because they wanted to be on the island didn’t mean anyone else wanted to. Besides, she had told him, they needed to blend in. </p><p>It was uncomfortable for Aaron to be on the island. Not that he remembered being there when he was a baby, of course. But still, there was the knowledge that he had spent the first few months of his life there. </p><p>“Hey, Aaron,” Ji Yeon’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. There was blood staining her jeans and shirt, and her dark hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. Aaron could already tell that it was not a good idea to get on her bad side, although it was never a good idea to be on Ji Yeon Kwon’s bad side.</p><p>“What’s going on?” He asked.</p><p>“What’s going on is that we need help with the injured,” She replied. Aaron was a little confused for a moment, and she sighed, continuing to explain. “You Aaron. That was my semi-polite way of telling you to get your ass to the medical tent right now.”</p><p>“Oh. Right, sorry,” Aaron flushed at his own stupidity, and Ji Yeon’s face visibly softened at seeing his reaction.</p><p>“Sorry,” She said sheepishly. “This has all just been a lot to deal with. And we really do need help, or none of them are going to survive.”</p><p>“Whatever you need me to do, I’m there.”</p><p>										…</p><p>Aaron was never really great with the sight of blood.</p><p>Nosebleeds and cuts and other little stuff like that didn’t bother him, but gaping wounds and injuries always made him want to run as far away as he possibly could.</p><p>However, in this case, he forced himself to stay. It was, after all, partially his fault.</p><p>There were eleven patients in the makeshift medical tent. Ji Yeon, Nao, and two other people that Aaron didn’t know were tending to them.</p><p>The worst of them was a man with both of his legs utterly crushed, presumably from wreckage of the plane. Aaron wanted to look away, but he didn’t.</p><p>He forced himself to stay strong.</p><p>“What do you need me to do?” Aaron asked, swallowing his fear and turning towards Ji Yeon and Nao. </p><p>“Uh,” Nao began. “Look, I don’t really know what I’m doing here, I just have basic medical training. Ji Yeon should give the orders.” Ji Yeon looked up, shocked, clearly not used to being in charge. She muttered something in Korean before walking over to Nao and Aaron, assessing the situation.</p><p>“Honestly, there’s not much I can do,” She sighed. “If we’re not getting rescued then we don’t have the proper medicine. Most of the people in here will be dead by tomorrow.”</p><p>“Why wouldn’t we get rescued?” Nao questioned.</p><p>Aaron tried not to look panicked. He could tell that Nao was onto them, although he also knew that Ji Yeon was good with words and could probably manage to twist them enough to draw suspicion away. Still, it was only a matter of time before Nao connected the dots and figured out who they were. He was suddenly glad that Ji Yeon’s mother, Sun, had managed to keep her a secret from the rest of the world, and Kwon being a common Korean last name helped. Clementine had her mother’s last name, and the Humes had no known connection to flight 815 or the Oceanic Six, which meant that only Aaron and Elizabeth could be connected to the 815 survivors.</p><p>“Hypothetically,” Ji Yeon answered Nao’s question. “You said the communication equipment is broken, so I doubt anyone will find us soon, if at all.”</p><p>“Alright,” They sighed. “You two try to keep things going in here, I’m gonna get some air and see how everyone else is holding up.” With that, they exited the tent, leaving Aaron, Ji Yeon, and the other volunteers.</p><p>“What are we going to do?” Aaron whispered. “If they die, it’s all our fault, we caused this-“</p><p>“Calm down,” Ji Yeon interrupted. “If the island wanted this plane to crash, then it was going to crash whether we were on it or not. And hopefully, if Liz and Daniel find the Others, Hurley can heal these people.”</p><p>Aaron nodded, knowing that Ji Yeon was right, but he still couldn’t shake the guilt. It was all their fault.</p><p>Well, theirs and someone else’s.</p><p>										…</p><p>
  <em>At first, the six of them agreed to just ignore it when Eloise Hawking first contacted them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>After all, they would know if something was wrong with the island.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The second time, they agreed to ignore it again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The third time, they were split.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Clementine, Ji Yeon, and Daniel firmly backed the belief that Eloise was not to be trusted and that they shouldn’t answer her. Aaron and Charlie were both on the fence about it, saying that maybe they should tell their parents and the other survivors about it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Elizabeth though? She was very much a woman of faith, and she believed that it was worth it to hear Eloise out. It took a while for her to convince the rest of them, but there they were.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Lamp Post Station was not at all how Aaron imagined it. The technology there was much more advanced than what his parents had told him, although that was probably because Eloise had improved it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Welcome,” Eloise said as soon as they entered. Aaron could see Daniel looking especially uncomfortable, likely because he was thinking of his namesake, Daniel Faraday, Eloise’s son who she killed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Get to the point then,” Ji Yeon said, folding her arms across her chest. “Why did you insist that we come here?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Because, Ji Yeon Kwon,” Eloise began, clearly irritated with her attitude. “The island needs you. All of you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Isn’t that exactly what you told our parents before sending them to the island, which didn’t actually need them?” Charlie piped up from the back of the group. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Charlie Hume,” Eloise acknowledged. “You’ve certainly grown since the last time I saw you. And the island did need them then, just as it needs you now. Why, I cannot say, for I don’t know.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Ji Yeon scoffed. Aaron had to admit, the whole thing was extremely suspicious as well.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Tell me,” She continued. “Have any of you felt… odd, for the past few weeks? As if something is very, very wrong?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Aaron looked around uneasily at the rest of his friends. He didn’t know about the rest of them, but he had been feeling that way for quite some time, with no explanation.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You have quite the connection to the island, Aaron Littleton. You were born there, after all,” Eloise said, noticing his facial expression. “You’ve felt it as well.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Making eye contact with Eloise Hawking was like making eye contact with a demon. Her eyes seemed to bore into Aaron’s soul, and from everything he knew about her, he wouldn’t be surprised if she was actually a demon.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yes,” He said with a nod. He then turned to his friends, taking a deep breath before saying: “I think we have to go back.”</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At first, when the plane crashed, Kalei Mahi’ai was confused. </p><p>Everything had become a blur to her from the moment the plane started shaking. The next thing she knew, Kalei was in the water.</p><p>Luckily, Kalei was an excellent swimmer. It wasn’t even an exaggeration, she truly deserved the title of excellence. She kind of had to be a great swimmer, growing up on Oahu. An island not unlike the one she was trapped on now.</p><p>The crash was a few days ago. Two, maybe three. She had lost count. </p><p>Nineteen people who were in the tail section were alive. Hopefully, people in the middle and front of the plane were alive as well, just on a different part of the island.</p><p>She had this problem where she didn’t remember intense events all that well, even if they happened recently. The crash of the pane, and the aftermath that followed was probably the most intense few hours of Kalei’s life, so it was only natural to her to block it out. There were a few things that stood out to her, like swimming to the shore, rescuing people who couldn’t swim or couldn’t swim well, doing her best to help the injured.</p><p>She remembered meeting Charlie Hume. </p><p>Everyone had been running around on the beach, in complete chaos. Kalei was busy trying to pull a man from out under the fallen tail of the plane when a boy with dirty blond hair bumped into her.</p><p>“Sorry, I’m sorry,” He apologized quickly, his voice bearing an odd mix of a Scottish and British accent, as he backed away. Kalei had been immediately annoyed at the fact that he just ran away from the problem at hand.</p><p>“Hey!” She had yelled, stopping him in his tracks. “What’s your name.”</p><p>“Charlie, Charlie Hume.” He answered, seeming a little scared. Kalei had been confused, since she wasn’t a particularly scary or intimidating person. Still, she persisted.</p><p>“Well Charlie Hume, do you think you can help me save this man’s life?”</p><p>And that was how she had gained her co-leader.</p><p>Kalei had been surprised at herself more than anyone at the fact that she had become the default leader of the tail section survivors. She was only twenty-one years old after all, barely an adult. But her actions on the day of the crash caused everyone to look to her, and she stepped up to the challenge.</p><p>And, somehow, Charlie Hume stepped up with her.</p><p>However, the more she got to know him, she realized that her first impression was a little wrong. He was actually a pretty kind person, from what she could see. Yeah, he was a little annoying and he was weirdly obsessed with some band called Drive Shaft, but the good outweighed the bad. Most of the time, at least.</p><p>“Hey, Lei!”</p><p>Oh, and there was that nickname that Kalei hated, but Charlie wouldn’t drop the nickname until he was dead.</p><p>“Is there another crisis that we have to solve?” Kalei groaned. She had been sitting by the edge of the beach, just looking out at the ocean waves, and it had been nice for her to get a break.</p><p>“We’re running low on water,” He explained. “And food. And basically everything.” She sighed, not at all liking where the conversation was going. Food wasn’t as big of a problem since they had already managed to gather some of what grew it the jungle, and they would be able to do it again. One person had even managed to kill a rabbit using a sharp piece of the plane that had broken off. Water though? That was going to be a big, big problem.</p><p>“What about the injured man?” Kalei asked. Most of the injured had died from their wounds, but one was still alive. “The one with, you know, the arm.” By arm, however, she mean lack of one. A piece of falling debris from the plane had damaged his arm so badly that there was no option but to cut it off. Kalei had not been present for that horrible event.</p><p>“It’s not looking good,” He sighed. “Honestly, Lei, I think that we’re gonna have to make a choice soon. We can’t keep wasting supplies on him, and he’s in so much pain. Is it worth it if we can’t save him?”</p><p>“What then?” She replied. “We just kill him?” Charlie, it seemed, had no response to that. The two of them were silent for a moment, neither of them having anything to say, and not really wanting to speak.</p><p>Kalei looked out at the water, wishing once again that she was on a different beach, one in Oahu, where she didn’t have to worry about finding food or water. Yeah, she and her family had some financial struggles, but there was always food to go around.</p><p>“Alright,” She said, standing up and pulling her brown hair into a messy ponytail. “We should talk to everyone else, see what they think.” Charlie hesitated for just a moment, but he nodded and stood up as well. </p><p>Once it seemed that he, and Kalei too, was ready, they walked towards where the rest of the tail section survivors were doing various tasks, trying to keep the rest of them alive.</p><p>“Hey, everyone!” She shouted once they were close enough. “Can we have your attention for just one second?”</p><p>Sixteen pairs of eyes went right to Kalei, everyone except for the injured man and Charlie. The attention and pressure made her want to shrink into the background, but she knew that they were looking up to her,</p><p>“We’re almost out of water,” Charlie said, saving Kalei from the burden of having to deliver that news. “Until we find more, what we have is all we have left. I know a few of you set up a rationing system, so everyone needs to follow that starting right now.”</p><p>“There’s also the problem of food, although that should be a little easier to get,” Kalei continued, picking up where Charlie left off. “We need to have people going into the jungle to gather what they can every day, and if any of you have any hunting experience, now would be a great time to use it.”</p><p>Then there was the not-so-small matter of the last thing they had discussed. The two leaders looked at each other, neither of them wanting to take the burden, but both of them wanting to save the other from it. </p><p>Kalei, in the end, was the one who nodded and stepped forward, signaling to Charlie that she would take it from there.</p><p>“We also need to talk about the man who lost his arm,” She began. “We’ve been using a lot of medicine and water on him, but we don’t think he’s going to survive. Without a doctor and the proper medicine, he won’t make it if we don’t get rescued. So… I know it’s hard, but we all need to decide if it is worth it, in the long run, to keep him alive or not.”</p><p>She looked around at the faces of the people she was leading. Some looked like they were conflicted, some clearly had their minds made up. It was their decision, and she was going to stand by whatever they chose.</p><p>That night, Kalei Mahi’ai killed someone for the first time in her life.</p><p>											…</p><p>
  <em>“I’m sorry ma’am, there aren’t any available flights to Oahu at the moment.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kalei sighed, running her hand through her hair. She had flown all the way to Australia in order to interview for a job, and the man in charge had told her to not even bother checking back. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Alright, fine,” She gave up. “Are there any connecting flights I can catch?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The ticket agent at Sydney Airport typed something on her computer, and Kalei heard a loud ding ring out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“There’s a flight going from here to Los Angeles to Oahu,” the ticket agent said. “Oceanic flight 442.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kalei groaned. She didn’t want to make a stop-over in Los Angeles, and that was going to be a lot of hours in the air. However, she didn’t have any other choice, and she wanted to get back to her home.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ll take it, then.”</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey everyone just letting you know that I will be adding Sunday updates to the update schedule for this fic!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The island was the last place that Daniel Hume wanted to be.</p><p>Not only was it the fact that he was sent there by Eloise Hawking of all people, but the fact that… it was the island. The place his father had been trapped on for over three years, the place where so many people had died, the place that he interpreted as the stuff of nightmares.</p><p>The fact that he was sitting across the table from Ben Linus, the man who tried to kill his parents once, made it even worse.</p><p>It had been 21 years, Daniel reminded himself. That was a long time to change.</p><p>“Eloise told you to come here?” Ben’s question pulled Daniel back into the conversation, as he had zoned out when Elizabeth started to explain how everything happened. </p><p>“Yes.” Elizabeth said in an annoyed tone, allowing Daniel to infer that she had already explained that.</p><p>Ben rubbed his temples, trying to decide what the best course of action was. Emma, meanwhile, was leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest, clearly angry or annoyed about something, Daniel just didn’t know what.</p><p>“The island <em>is</em> in danger though, isn’t it?” Elizabeth asked. “So we were right in coming here.”</p><p>“We had everything under control,” Emma commented. “Mostly, at least.” Elizabeth looked taken aback. Daniel almost felt bad for her, but it was overshadowed by the fact that she had been the one to convince them to see Eloise, which landed them in the situation they were currently stuck in. It wasn’t that he resented her, per se. She was one of his closest friends. He was just a little angry that she let her faith in the island blind her logic. Then again, Elizabeth was never much of a logical thinker, more of a run-into-things-head-on type of person.</p><p>“Alright,” Ben said suddenly, looking up sharply. “Look, I have too much to deal with already, and I’m going to need you to go to Hugo with this.”<br/>“That’s why I came here,” Emma replied. “I thought he’d be making plans with you.”</p><p>“No, I made him go to a safe location,” Ben explained. “He’s at the new cabin, with Walt. I assume you know the way, Emma?”</p><p>“I helped design and build it, I sure hope that I know the way.”</p><p>“Good then,” Ben said. “Get them to the cabin safely. You three will be able to get through the circle of ash. Tell Hugo what happened, and follow his orders.”</p><p>Emma nodded and grabbed her rifle, which was leaning against the counter. She motioned for Daniel and Elizabeth to follow her before walking to the back door.</p><p>“Wait a second,” Dan interrupted. “Don’t we get any say in this?” Everyone turned to look at him, including Elizabeth, who seemed to be regarding him as odd for some reason.</p><p>“You made that plane crash here, Daniel Hume, so no, you don’t get a say in this.” Ben said, sounding just like the man from all of the stories Daniel had heard. He didn’t want to go along with the plan whatsoever.</p><p>Still, he followed Emma and Elizabeth to the back door, knowing it was the only plan they had.</p><p>										…</p><p>The cabin was smaller than Daniel expected. It had been described as a safe place, but he didn’t understand what was so safe about a random cabin in the woods.</p><p>“Looks pretty dumpy, doesn’t it?” Emma commented, as if she was reading Daniel’s thoughts. “It’s not the cabin itself that does the protecting. It’s what’s around the cabin that you need to watch out for.”</p><p>Daniel frowned and looked at the ground, only then noticing the thick circle of ash that ran around the perimeter of the place. </p><p>“How will we get in,” Elizabeth began. “If that’s supposed to keep us out?”</p><p>“We can get in because Hugo wants us to come in,” Emma explained. “Otherwise we’ll all be very, very dead when we step through that ash.”</p><p><em>Great,</em> Daniel thought. Evil ash that might kill them was just another thing to add on to the now never-ending list of things he had to worry about.</p><p>It seemed that even Emma wasn’t entirely convinced that she ash would allow them to pass through, because she tentatively put her foot over the line, flinching slightly, as if she expected something to happen. However, she relaxed when nothing did, and she regained her confident attitude as she walked towards the cabin at an even pace.</p><p>Daniel glanced at Elizabeth questioningly. His friend only shrugged in response, and she followed Emma towards the cabin, free of any side effects.</p><p>If they got through, there was no reason Dan couldn’t, he supposed. He carefully stepped onto the other side, but, as he had predicted, nothing happened, and he hurried to catch up to the other two, who were already at the doorstep.</p><p>Emma knocked twice, then paused before knocking three times. She paused again for a moment, and then knocked five times. </p><p>“There’s a secret knock?” Elizabeth whispered to Daniel, clearly stifling a laugh. He had to admit, it was a little ridiculous that a group as complex as the Others had one of those.</p><p>Once Emma was finished knocking, the door to the cabin opened, revealing two people: One was a man who looked to be around Emma’s age, with dark skin and evenly cut hair. The other was someone Daniel immediately recognized as Hugo “Hurley” Reyes.</p><p>“Dude.” Hurley whispered upon seeing Daniel and Elizabeth. His face had gone as pale as a sheet, and he looked as if he was about to faint. “How… what… why-“</p><p>“Hold on,” The other man interrupted. “What’s happening?”</p><p>“Walt,” Emma began. “Meet Elizabeth <em>Austen</em> and Daniel <em>Hume</em>.” </p><p>“You mean she’s Jack and Kate’s…” The man, Walt, trailed off staring at Elizabeth, who just nodded in confirmation. It was then that Daniel realized who he was: Walt from flight 815, the only kid in the middle section.</p><p>Hurley, meanwhile, literally shook himself out of his shocked state and motioned for the two of them, as well as Emma, to go inside the cabin. The three of them did so, and once again, Daniel noticed Emma’s confident demeanor start to fade a little. She looked uncomfortable inside the small cabin, even though she had seemed perfectly fine outside.</p><p>Before Daniel could turn away, Emma caught him looking, turning quicker than he had expected. Instead of being angry or annoyed, however, she simply gave a small smile and said: “I’ve never been great with small spaces.”</p><p>Daniel, who wasn’t really sure how to reply to that, just nodded awkwardly before turning to look at Hurley, who had started pacing across the cabin.</p><p>“Alright,” Hurley began, stopping his pacing abruptly. “I need you to tell me exactly why and how you came here.”</p><p>										…</p><p>
  <em>Daniel Faraday had always been Daniel Hume’s namesake.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>His parents always told him that there was zero question of that when they learned his mother was pregnant. Boy or girl, Daniel Faraday would be the reason for the name.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So, when Daniel was born and assigned female, they named him Danielle.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He hated it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He was Danielle Hume for fourteen years. Ten of which, he was fine being “she.” He didn’t understand the idea of being transgender, so he just accepted what he was.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Then he had started to grown uncomfortable in his own body. Everything felt so wrong. He thought something about him was broken.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It ended up being a good thing that the first person he told was Elizabeth.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Dani-“ She began, but cut herself off, realizing that Daniel wasn’t comfortable with his birth name. “There’s nothing wrong with that. From what you’re saying, I think you’re transgender, and that’s completely fine.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“But… do you think everyone else will understand?” Dan had said, already having come to that conclusion about himself. “I know Kate and Claire are married, and Miles and Richard are together, but this is different.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“If they don’t understand, then we can explain it,” She insisted. “And of course your parents will accept you, and so will everyone else.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Much to Daniel’s immense surprise, things had actually worked out. Gradually, he came out to the rest of his family and friends, Charlie being the second one after Elizabeth, followed by his parents.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Daniel Hume. He couldn’t even begin to describe how much better that fit him.</em>
</p><p>											…</p><p>“You listened to Eloise?” Hurley sighed after the two of them had finished explaining their story for the second time.</p><p>“I don’t understand why you all are so disappointed by that,” Elizabeth interjected. “Yeah, she did a horrible thing, but she’s still an Other, right?”</p><p>Emma and Walt glanced at each other quickly, their expressions unreadable by Daniel. </p><p>“We’re not disappointed, dude,” Hurley began. “We’re worried.”</p><p>“Why?” Daniel asked, leaning forward in his seat. Hurley sighed once again, making Dan a little annoyed, but he kept his annoyance in for the sake of getting answers.</p><p>“We’re worried because ever since Daniel Faraday died, Eloise has been working with Jacob’s brother.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Anna Jackson was a little embarrassed to admit the real reason she noticed Elizabeth was missing.</p><p>She had been helping build a signal fire when she remembered the cute girl who had helped her out during the aftermath of the crash. She had excused herself for a break and looked around the beach, but Elizabeth was nowhere to be found.</p><p>So yes, Anna noticed her disappearance because Elizabeth was cute.  </p><p>She wandered back over to the signal fire, which she had been helping to build with Clementine, an older girl with blond hair. She was tall and muscular, and she looked like she could absolutely kick Anna’s ass in a fight. Still, she approached Clementine and wondered aloud about the missing Elizabeth. </p><p>“So…” Anna trailed off awkwardly. “Have you seen a girl with dark hair and brown eyes? A little shorter than me?” Clementine looked up and raised her eyebrows, but Anna thought she saw a flicker of recognition in the her eyes.</p><p>“Are you talking about Elizabeth? Elizabeth Austen?” </p><p>“Yes!” Anna exclaimed loudly. She immediately regretted her shouting, but as she looked around, it seemed that no one noticed. “She, uh, helped me out during the crash and now she kind of disappeared.”</p><p>“She went into the jungle to look for something useful.” Clementine replied, not looking up from the wood that she was putting in the fire. Anna nodded awkwardly, and she continued to work in silence.</p><p>It hit her a few minutes later.</p><p>
  <em>Elizabeth…. Austen?</em>
</p><p>Ever since she was little, Anna had always found the case of Oceanic 815 to be extremely interesting. She would spend hours reading theories online and reading about the survivors. There was the Oceanic Six of course, and then the few survivors that had been found three years later. </p><p>One of those survivors? Kate Austen. Kate Austen who had been pregnant with Jack Shephard’s child when he died. A child who, now, would be Elizabeth’s age. </p><p>Two Oceanic flights, both crashing on or near an island, one with <em>Kate</em> Austen, and one with <em>Elizabeth</em> Austen. It couldn’t be a coincidence.</p><p>Not to mention… her friends, who she was traveling with could possibly be children of 815 survivors. </p><p>“I’ll, um, be right back,” She said to Clementine, who simply nodded in her direction. Anna jogged towards where the co-pilot, Nao Tanaka, and a few others had set up a medical tent. She figured she’d talk to Nao first.</p><p>She pulled the tent flap open and almost immediately wished she hadn’t. The stench of sickness and death was in the air, and it made Anna want to vomit. However, she walked in and saw the exhausted-looking pilot talking to a boy with sandy colored hair.</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“Hmm?” Nao said, looking over at Anna. “Oh, do you need something for your arm?” She shook her head, looking down at the prosthetic. After years of having it, Anna hardly even noticed it was there anymore.</p><p>“No, I’m fine,” Anna replied. She eyed the sandy haired boy suspiciously, knowing that he was one of Elizabeth’s friends. “Can I just quickly talk to you about something? In private?” Nao glanced at her oddly, but then shrugged, and gestured for Anna to follow her outside.</p><p>“Ji Yeon, you’re in charge,” They called back into the tent to a dark-haired girl. Anna glanced back to see her reaction, but was cut off by Nao abruptly closing the tent flap.</p><p>“Alright, who are you and what is so important?”</p><p>“I’m Anna,” She began. “Anna Jackson. Look, I’ll just get to the point: I think some of the people on the plane are related to the survivors of Oceanic 815.” Nao stared at her for a moment, but then their eyes widened. </p><p>“I knew I wasn’t imagining things,” They muttered under their breath. “The guy I was just talking to? His name’s Aaron Littleton, as in Claire Littleton. I think he’s Aaron Austen, but he changed his last name when those two got married.”</p><p>“There was someone else on our flight with the last name Austen,” Anna added. “She went into the jungle a few hours ago. And they were traveling with other people, so what if they’re all related to 815 survivors? Nao, this can’t be a coincidence. I’m not saying they made the plane crash but… what if they had something to do with it?”</p><p>“How could they have something to do with the crash?” They questioned. “I was in the cockpit the whole time. No one tampered with the controls, we just lost power and crashed.”</p><p>Anna sighed. What was she thinking really? So what if they were related to the 815 survivors? Maybe she simply mistook coincidence for fate. </p><p>She looked up to tell Nao that she probably was assuming too many things, but she saw that the pilot was already on their way back to the medical tent.</p><p>“What are you doing?”</p><p>Nao looked back at her as if it was obvious what their goal was at the moment, but Anna simply shrugged. </p><p>“I’m confronting them about it,” They explained. “We don’t have time for subtly looking for information.”</p><p>They walked inside without waiting for a response. Personally, Anna didn’t like confrontation. She preferred to avoid her problems until they hopefully went away. Still, she was curious, and she definitely wanted to know if she was right, so Anna followed Nao into the tent. </p><p>									…</p><p>
  <em>“Anna come on, you’re gonna have to tell them eventually, why not now?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She didn’t respond, opting to instead lean against the car door and stare out the window. She was in the passenger seat of her girlfriend’s car, who had decided to bring up the fact that Anna still hadn’t told her parents about the two of them. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“They don’t even know I’m a lesbian, okay?” Anna replied after a moment. “And if they do find out, they’re gonna murder me.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her girlfriend, Carrie, looked over at her sadly. God, she was so beautiful with her wavy brown hair and blue eyes looking so perfect. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hey, it’ll be okay,” Carrie said. “You can always stay with me.”  Anna smiled at her and pushed a strand of Carrie’s hair back behind her ear. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Carrie only looked away from the road for one second.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But it was one second too long.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The oncoming pickup truck hit Carrie’s small Volkswagen Bug on the driver’s side, where Carrie was sitting. Anna screamed as the car toppled onto the street. She could hear honks and sirens all around her as she desperately tried to get out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>However, her right arm was trapped under the remains of the front of the pickup that hit them, and she couldn’t get out. There was so much pain that she could barely see.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She only mustered up the strength to utter one word before she blacked out: “Carrie.”</em>
</p><p>											…</p><p>When Anna walked in, she saw Nao talking to Aaron with their arms folded and a stern look on their face that told Anna that things weren’t going so well. Nearby, the woman with straight black hair who Anna assumed to be Ji Yeon watched the two of them converse, seemingly ready to step in at any moment.</p><p>“Nao, this is ridiculous,” Aaron was saying, not sounding remotely convincing whatsoever. “W-what you’re saying is-“</p><p>“I don’t hear you denying it,” They interrupted. “And you’re a horrible liar. Tell me the truth right now.” Aaron looked into their eyes pleadingly, but the pilot didn’t budge. He sighed, and seemed to be about to talk when Ji Yeon abruptly stood up and quickly made her way to Aaron’s side. Sensing conflict, Anna moved closer to Nao, who seemed to be willing to take the backup. </p><p>“Listen-“</p><p>“Don’t play dumb with me, either of you!” Nao yelled, clearly getting angry. “Stuff like this isn’t a coincidence. Now, this was my flight and I am responsible for the people out there, so if you had something to do with this fucking crash, you better tell me right now.”</p><p>Both Aaron and Ji Yeon were shocked into silence, and Anna was extremely surprised as well. In the time that she had known Nao, she had thought of them as more of a gentle person, but they clearly had a tough side.</p><p>“Do you trust her?” Ji Yeon asked, nodding to Anna. </p><p>“Oh, I can go-“</p><p>“She stays here,” Nao interrupted, putting their hand on Anna’s shoulder. Anna, while not expecting to be included in the discussion, was glad that she was going to hear exactly what was going on. It was partly her theory, after all.</p><p>“Alright,” Ji Yeon began. “Yes, we’re related to 815 survivors. But what happened in the flight 815 crash isn’t what you think. I need you to promise that you’ll believe what I tell you, okay?” Anna nodded immediately, and, after a moment, Nao reluctantly nodded as well.</p><p>“Okay then. Here’s the real story of Oceanic 815.”</p><p>Ji Yeon explained everything as Anna and Nao listened attentively. She was fascinated by everything she heard, and shocked and how the people who made it off the island managed to keep the lie going for so long.</p><p>“Nao, please,” Aaron said after Ji Yeon finished. “And you too, Anna. You can’t tell anyone. It’s dangerous enough that you-“</p><p>“I’ll decide what the best course of action is,” Nao interrupted. “For now… you two better not try anything stupid.” With that, they stormed out of the tent angrily, leaving Anna with the shocked Aaron and Ji Yeon.</p><p>She glanced at them and simply shrugged before following Nao’s path. She wasn’t going to tell anyone. Even if she did, would they even believe her?</p><p>Instead, she sat down on the sand and gazed out at the sun setting over the ocean, wondering if she was going to make it off the island alive.</p><p>									…</p><p>
  <em>The first thing Anna heard was the beeping of a heart monitor.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The first thing she felt was the pain in her arm.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The first thing she thought of was Carrie.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her eyes shot wide open, and she attempted to sit up, but was stopped by the mass of equipment around her. Anna took in her surroundings and realized that she was in a blue and white hospital room, with two doctors conversing at the foot of her bed. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You’re awake,” One of the doctors said, turning to her. “Miss Jackson… you were injured badly in a car crash, so you shouldn’t try to move too much. We did everything we could, but by the time we found you, there was too much blood pooling to your arm….”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Feeling an immense sense of dread, Anna looked down to her right. Where her arm had been was simply a stump covered in white cloth that was stained red. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Where’s Carrie?” She asked quietly, trying not to scream or cry or both at the same time. “My girlfri- my friend. She was in the car with me.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The two doctors looked at each other sadly. One nodded, communicating to the other that they would take the burden.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Anna knew what they were going to say from the moment she asked. Did that make hearing the words any easier? Absolutely not.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“She’s dead.”</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Elizabeth, despite believing that the island was, in fact, in danger and in need of their help, she was still unsure about Eloise’s theory. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The fact that she thought the crash would turn out exactly the same confused her. Did all planes crash on the island in the same way? It would have made more sense if not for the fact that the crash Ajira flight 316 could barely be considered a crash, since it was landed on the island. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Is it because it’s a plane, or an Oceanic plane?” She asked as Eloise wrote some equations on the wall. The woman in question looked up and smiled at Elizabeth almost condescendingly. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Neither, Elizabeth,” Eloise began as if the person she was talking to was a child. “Flight 815, and now flight 442, both have unique electromagnetic properties that allow them to crash at all. Ajira 316 had a similar property, but it was simply a substitute for what flights like these hold.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“And when is this magical flight?” Clementine asked, her voice laced with sarcasm.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“September 22nd, of course,” Eloise replied. “From Sydney to Los Angeles. You’ll have to get there first, but I trust you’ll have the ability to do so.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The six of them all glanced at each other uneasily, even Elizabeth. It was Eloise Hawking, after all, the same woman who had set in motion so many horrible things.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But maybe it wasn’t her fault. Maybe. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Surprisingly, it was Aaron who spoke up first, perhaps because of his supposed connection to the island.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I guess we better book some plane tickets.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>One by one, they all made their way to the door. Elizabeth didn’t know about the rest of them, but she was eager to get out of there, partially because she wanted to make sure everything would go according to plan as soon as possible, and partly because she didn’t want to be in a room with Eloise longer than she needed to. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“One moment, Elizabeth.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She turned to see Eloise standing across from her and motioning for her to stay. She glanced back at the rest of her friends, all of whom looked skeptical, especially Daniel. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s fine guys,” She said. “I’ll meet you outside.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Once the other five left, Elizabeth turned to face her, trying to seem bold, although in reality, she was extremely nervous.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What do you want?” She asked, keeping her voice steady. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“There’s just a short bit of instruction personal to you,” Eloise said. “You’re the child of not one, but two Oceanic survivors after all.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What about Ji Yeon? Both of her parents survived the flight too.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Your friend Ji Yeon has a different purpose, one that she will learn of on the island,” Eloise dismissed Elizabeth’s comment with a wave of her hand. “But you, Elizabeth, you are instrumental to the crash itself. You must sit in row 23, the midway point. You are the center, Elizabeth, the anchor that will bring the plane down to the island.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She wasn’t sure how Eloise intended that to go over, but it made Elizabeth feel awful. The plane was going to crash because of her. It didn’t matter what anyone else did to get her there, if she was in that row, she was going to crash the plane.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Would she do it? For the sake of the island, was she really going to enable a plane crash?</em>
</p><p>								…</p><p>Elizabeth probably shouldn’t have been surprised.</p><p>What <em>had</em> she been expecting? For Eloise to be entirely honest and helpful? Absolutely not. But… she was working with Locke?</p><p>Well, not the real John Locke, of course. He was long dead. No, the Locke she was referring to was the smoke monster, the brother of Jacob.</p><p>“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted her,” Daniel muttered from next to her. He wasn’t acting smug about it, but he definitely wanted to make it clear to Elizabeth that she had been wrong.</p><p>“But why?” She questioned. “I thought the Others fought against him?”</p><p>“We do,” Walt piped up. “But I guess she didn’t.”</p><p>“Back then they barely knew who he was, but yeah, they fought against him for a while,” Hurley explained. “But Eloise was angry and confused, and she was probably tired of everything they were doing so… she joined the other side.”</p><p>“That would have been nice to know a few weeks ago,” Daniel muttered. “Wait… why would she want us to come here then?”</p><p>“How many times do I have to tell you that you’re not helping?” Emma said from behind them. “We had things under control until a fucking plane crashed on the island!”</p><p>Elizabeth almost wanted to puke. If she hadn’t gone on that plane, then maybe everything would have been alright. Hell, she was the one who convinced her friends to go see Eloise in the first place! If only she had used a little common sense, if only she had stopped to think for just a minute. Instead, she put her trust and faith in the island, and she had been wrong.</p><p>“…this means the dissenters are working for him to then,” Emma was saying. “There’s no other logical explanation.”</p><p>“Hold up, isn’t he, you know, <em>dead</em>?” Walt asked. Elizabeth was wondering that herself as well. If Eloise was working against the Others, that likely meant she was working with the dissenters, which added up to them following the smoke monster, which made no sense because, as Walt said, the smoke monster was dead. “Hurley, you were there right? Didn’t he die?”</p><p>All four of them looked to Hurley, who looked as if he was about to pass out. Elizabeth and Daniel exchanged a worried glance, knowing that it couldn’t be good.</p><p>“Yes, he did die,” Hurley began. “But… there might be a way to bring him back.”</p><p>A silence settled over the cabin. None of them knew how to react to that news, and they were all stunned. There was a way for Jacob’s brother, the smoke monster, the killer of so many, to come back to life.</p><p>“What. The. Fuck.”</p><p>It was Emma who spoke first, breaking the silence, and breaking the others out of their shocked state in the process. </p><p>“You didn’t want to tell anyone about this?!”</p><p>“How could he come back?”</p><p>“Are you <em>serious</em>?!”</p><p>“Whoa, just calm down!” Hurley yelled over the rest of them. Emma’s eyes flashed angrily, and she looked like she was about to say something else, but Walt quickly stopped her. “Look, it’s pretty complicated but… if someone managed to get his body, get water from the Source, and somehow find someone with compatible blood, then they could technically bring him back to the body he died in.”</p><p>“John Locke,” Elizabeth whispered. He nodded in confirmation.</p><p>“There’s no way they would have known how to do it without him, though,” He continued. “Maybe when Jack brought the light back…. part of him came back too.”</p><p>Elizabeth honestly wasn’t sure how to react. The smoke monster, Locke, whatever he was called was probably her greatest fear. She had heard so many horrible stories of what he’d done and the people he killed. But she had always known that he was dead and gone, and that he couldn’t come back.</p><p>But apparently, she had been wrong.</p><p>Elizabeth took a deep breath, trying not to let her fear show. Had they made things worse by going to the island? Were they partially responsible?</p><p><em>No, not them,</em> she thought. <em>Just me.</em></p><p>She didn’t listen to the rest of the conversation. Daniel spoke for both of them. Instead, Elizabeth drowned in her own guilt, knowing that if she hadn’t convinced them to see Eloise, and if she hadn’t gotten on that plane, things may have turned out differently. </p><p>She barely heard Hurley saying something about them laying low at the cabin for a few days and then eventually going back to the beach once they figured out a plan. She barely registered him, Emma, and Walt going over to another area of the cabin and talking in hushed voices. All she could think about was how she was responsible for bringing people she cared about to the island and endangering them more than she could have ever imagined.</p><p>“Hey,” Daniel whispered to her. “I know what you’re thinking, Liz. This isn’t your fault.”</p><p>“Yes it is,” She replied. Before her friend could say anything else, she abruptly stood up and walked outside, sitting down on the front porch of the cabin, all the while a voice in her head repeating the same two words over and over again: <em>Your fault.</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Why do we have to leave?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>At nine years old, Kalei didn’t understand. She didn’t know why they had to move all of the time. All she knew was that she wanted it to stop.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her mother, once beautiful but her face now lined with worry and stress, kneeled down in front of her and placed one hand on Kalei’s shoulder.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“We don’t have the money, little flower,” She said, using the nickname she had given Kalei long ago. “This island is expensive.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“So why don’t we just go?” She asked. Sure, she loved Oahu, but if there was a place where she could go and stay, she’d rather be there. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“We have to stay here, for when you father gets back,” Her mother explained. “Then we can find a place to go for good.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kalei frowned. She could barely remember her father, let alone the reason why he was gone. But her mother was the only constant in her life, and she had to believe her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She believed that the future was going to be better.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>How wrong she was.</em>
</p><p>										…</p><p>It had been a little over two weeks since the plane crashed, and Kalei was completely exhausted. All she wanted to do was collapse on the sand and fall asleep, but there always seemed to be some sort of crisis and someone who needed her.</p><p>They had managed to build a system to collect water when it rained, which it did, a few times. However, they were still extremely low on water and they were trying to preserve what little of it was left.</p><p>As for food, they had managed to make a few weapons out of the plane wreckage and use them to hunt wild animals, but none of them were very good hunters. Unfortunately, that meant the majority of the food was gathered fruit and nuts that could possibly kill them.</p><p>Long story short, thing weren’t going great for Kalei. </p><p>Then again, were they ever?</p><p>She was so tired, so extremely exhausted. Surely, she could rest for just one moment….</p><p>“HELP!”</p><p>Kalei immediately stopped dozing off at the sound of screams. She stood up and turned around to see two people, a man and a woman, lying dead with bullet holes in their heads.</p><p>“Oh my god,” She whispered, starting to walk forward when more gunfire rang out from inside the jungle.</p><p>For a moment, she was paralyzed with fear. Kalei had never faced any sort of combat situation before. How was she going to face this?</p><p>“Everyone get down!” She yelled after regaining her sense of where she was. “Take cover!” She heeded her own advice and dove behind the makeshift tent, not daring to move as the gunfire grew more and more deafening. </p><p>She only looked for brief moments at the scene before her, but she could see that most of the tail section survivors were dead.</p><p>Then she remembered.</p><p>“Charlie!” She shouted, although it was probably impossible for him to hear her, if he was alive. </p><p>The gunfire died down after a few minutes, and Kalei could barely breathe. She could hear footsteps in the sand, coming closer and closer.</p><p><em>Bang! Bang!</em> She froze in fear as two gunshots rang out through the air. However, she soon realized that she hadn’t been shot, and that the bullets came from her side.</p><p>Suddenly, more gunshots went off as someone ran over to her from behind a nearby tree. Kalei scrambled to find any sort of weapon, but quickly gave up the search when she realized who was running towards her.</p><p>It was Charlie, holding a gun, and blindly shooting it at their attackers as he came.</p><p>“Where did you get that?” Kalei whispered to him once he got behind the tent as well, and after getting over the relief that he was alive. “And how the hell do you know how to use it?”</p><p>“I fought one of them, and got his gun,” Charlie explained. “And…. let’s just say I have paranoid parents.” To her, that was an insufficient explanation, but clearly they had bigger things to worry about. </p><p>“Okay, so they know where we are now,” Kalei said, briefly glancing over her shoulder. She saw that there were about a dozen people, all carrying weapons, walking towards them cautiously. “We have to just get everyone else and-“</p><p>“Everyone else is dead, Lei,” Charlie interrupted. “I don’t understand…. this wasn’t supposed to happen.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>He froze. Clearly he said something that Kalei wasn’t meant to hear. However, before she could say anything more, the tent at their backs was ripped away, leaving them exposed completely.</p><p>In front of them stood two menacing looking women and a man, all of them carrying guns.</p><p>“She’s the one,” One of the women said to the other two. “Take ‘em both.”</p><p>“Whoa, wait-“ Kalei began. But before she could do anything, the other woman grabbed her by the arm and forced her to her feet. Charlie, it seemed, was in a similar predicament, and his weapon had been taken by the man.</p><p>A burlap sack was shoved over her head, blocking her vision completely. Once that was done, the woman grabbed Kalei’s arms roughly and tied them behind her back with some rope. </p><p>“Wait, listen,” Charlie said in a panicked voice. “This is probably a misunderstanding, just let me talk to Hurley-“</p><p>“We don’t answer to <em>him</em>,” The man scoffed. Charlie fell silent, while Kalei was just confused. Who was Hurley, and why did Charlie know about the people on the island?</p><p>“Walk,” The woman holding Kalei hissed. She glanced around, even though she couldn’t see, trying to find something, <em>anything</em> that could help her.</p><p>Coming to the conclusion that she was going to have to do it herself, Kalei blindly kicked behind her and felt her foot hit the woman, who let go of her arms and staggered back. She got about two steps forward when she heard the sound of guns clicking into place. She still couldn’t see, but knew that she would likely be shot if she tried to run. </p><p>She felt someone jab something into her side and tried not to scream in pain as an electric shock flowed throughout her body. She collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony. Every part of her felt as if it was on fire, and the pain was so awful that she almost wanted to die right then and there.</p><p>She could barely hear Charlie shouting her name as she slipped in and out of consciousness, trying to keep her eyes open, but eventually letting the pain take over as she blacked out completely.</p><p>								…</p><p>
  <em>At 19, Kalei couldn’t afford college. Hell, she could barely afford the crappy apartment she was living in. Her mother had been right about one thing: Oahu was really fucking expensive. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>For some reason though, she didn’t want to leave. She felt attached to the place, although she didn’t really know why.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Her mother used to insist that they stay there because one day her father would come back. When Kalei was younger, she used to believe that. But after learning more about why he was gone, the fact that he simply left, she very much doubted that she would ever meet her father.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>One could imagine her surprise when she actually did.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was a hot day, sweltering, in fact. Kalei had just gotten off of a shift at work, and all she wanted to do was collapse and sleep.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Instead, almost as soon as she got home, there was a loud, sharp knock on her door. She sighed, making her way back over to where she had walked in. She opened it, and immediately gasped.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She wasn’t sure how she could tell immediately. Maybe it was the fact that he looked just like her, but older and male. Maybe it was some odd instinct. Whatever the case, she figured it out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Dad?” She whispered in disbelief.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh Kalei,” He replied. His voice was deep, but not soothing. It snapped her out of her shocked state, and the anger soon kicked in.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Where the hell have you been?!” She exclaimed. “It’s been, what 17 years since you left? Where were you?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kalei,“ He began. “Look, I- things were complicated. There was something about you, there were things that happened around you-“</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“So you just left us? Have you even been to see my mom?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The lack of a response gave Kalei her answer.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No,” She said. “You’re not my dad, you’re just some random guy who got my mom pregnant.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Kalei-“</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I don’t even know how you found me, but you don’t get to show up here now,” She concluded, slamming the door in his face.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>After years and years of wondering, she had finally met her father…. and pushed him away in a matter of seconds? So much buildup, so much pondering, just for that?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But she had been right, hadn’t she?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Of course you’re right,” Kalei muttered to herself. And she did truly believe that. After all, what kind of bullshit excuse was ’there were things that happened around her’?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She went back to her tired, boring life the next day as if nothing happened. She wanted to do something more, something important.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But it seemed that importance was not going to be part of her life.</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey everyone, just announcing that I will be adding Wednesday updates to the update schedule, making it: Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday updates!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nao was still pretty pissed off. </p><p>It was <em>their</em> flight after all, and it happened under their watch. </p><p>Aaron had tried to talk to them a few times, but they honestly didn’t want to hear it. Maybe it was a little childish of them, but they had a whole lot of other stuff to worry about and they weren’t in the mood to hear excuses for why Aaron and the others purposefully crashed the plane.</p><p>It was getting more and more stressful as each day went by. The food supply was short, and the water supply was even shorter. All of the injured people were dead, and Nao was at the end of their patience.</p><p>Oddly, the only person they had been able to without completely losing it was Anna. They had sort of taken the girl under their wing, and she seemed to pop up wherever they went.</p><p>“The water’s almost gone,” She was saying to Nao. “And no one’s gone too far into the jungle so the food is running short too.”</p><p>“I know,” Nao sighed, rubbing their temples. “Is there any good news?”</p><p>Anna stayed silent. </p><p>“We’re all going to die out here if we don’t figure out something soon,” They muttered.</p><p>“You know…. Aaron and Clementine and Ji Yeon might know where to find food and water,” Anna suggested tentatively. “They can help.”</p><p>It was Nao’s turn to be silent. They, for one, weren’t inclined to trust them at all. Then again, maybe they were truly just trying their best to help. And from what they had seen, from Aaron especially, there seemed to be no malicious intent. </p><p>However, before they could make up their mind, a loud chorus of shouting came to their attention. Nao glanced at Anna, who simply shrugged, before the two of them ran over to where the noise was coming from.</p><p>People were yelling Nao’s name, and they parted through the crowd to see four people who had just emerged from the jungle. Two of them they recognized: They were the ones that had gone into the jungle on one of the first days, and they were part of Aaron’s little group. The other two were older, probably in their early 30s. One, a woman with blond hair, seemed like she was ready for a fight, while the other, a man with dark eyes, looked like he was about to stop her from starting one. </p><p>“Elizabeth?” It was Aaron, who had also made his way to the front of the crowd. Nao glanced over at him and saw that he looked extremely relieved. Maybe they had been right about Aaron not trying to hurt anyone. They didn’t really have much time to dwell on that, as soon after, the questions from the other survivors began.</p><p>“Who are you?”</p><p>“Where did they come from?”</p><p>“Are you here to rescue us?!”</p><p>“What the fuck is happening now?”</p><p>That last one came from Anna, who looked just as confused and tired as Nao felt. Everyone else was looking to them for answers, but they weren’t even sure how to explain.</p><p>“Tell them the truth,” Nao said to Elizabeth, looking her straight in the eyes. “Or I will.” Surprisingly, Elizabeth nodded, her eyes trained towards the ground.</p><p>She took a deep breath, and looked up at everyone else, who was staring back at her. The blond woman once again looked like she was going to start a fight, only this time on behalf of Elizabeth.</p><p>“My name is Elizabeth Austen,” She began. “And we are the legacies of Oceanic 815.”</p><p>									…</p><p>
  <em>“Hey, would you look who’s back? Ryu Tanaka.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nao froze. They were at Haneda Airport, having just arrived there from co-piloting a flight. Of course they were expecting to be called by their deadname, as was the norm with some of the regulars at Haneda, but that didn’t make it any better.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s Nao,” They said to the ones who had started the conversation, that being two pilots and a flight attendant who were on break. They only knew one of them, the female pilot: Emiko Nakamura, certified asshole, in Nao’s opinion.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh, I guess he-“<br/>“They.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Emiko snorted. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You know there’s a reason they don’t have you as the pilot of any flights, Ryu,” She retorted, emphasizing the name. “‘Progressive society’ my ass. Anyone who believes this shit is as fucked up as you.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Nao felt their face redden. They tried to think of some sort of clever comeback, but nothing was coming to mind. It was humiliating. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m the fucked up one?” They said, coming up with something on the spot. Except, Nao couldn’t come up with anything and ended up leaving it at that, with no punchline or quip. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Uh…. yeah,” The flight attendant said. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“At least I’m not a transphobic asshole,” They said, sticking up their middle finger as they backed out of the room as quickly as possible. However, they could see that their words had almost no affect on the three of them, and they only rolled their eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Outside, in the hallway, Nao tried to breathe deeply as they leaned against the cold wall of the airport, trying to calm themself down.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Breathe in, breathe out, breath in, breathe out….</em>
</p><p>								…</p><p>Nao wasn’t expecting such a strong reaction to Elizabeth’s confession.</p><p>Sure, when they found out they had been angry, but what they were seeing now was more than that. People were on the verge of <em>attacking</em> her and the others. The blond woman, who’s name Nao learned was Emma, put her hand on something concealed in her waistband, probably a gun. </p><p>Nao didn’t want a fight to break out, and they certainly didn’t want anyone to be killed. Before anything else could happen, they moved towards the smaller group and stood in front of them, holding their hands out towards the crash survivors. </p><p>“Hey!” They yelled. “Everyone, stop, alright! Do you really think this is the best solution? Look, what they did was terrible. I know that more than anyone. But infighting is only going to make this worse! We’re all here now, and we all need to work together. We’re not going to get anywhere by putting all of the blame on each other. So I’m not asking you to forgive them, I’m only asking you to be civil.”</p><p>Aaron, Ji Yeon, and Clementine were all staring at them with shocked expressions on their faces. Nao was a little shocked at themself too, but had confidence in their words. </p><p>“If we can’t live together, then we’re going to die alone,” Elizabeth said quietly from behind them, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Nao nodded in agreement.</p><p>“Let me handle this, everyone,” They concluded. “You can trust me.” Slowly, the crash survivors began to disperse and go back to what they were doing before, all except for Anna. Many skirted as far around as they could, and Nao couldn’t really blame them. </p><p>“Nice job back there,” Emma commented to Nao. “Not that these idiots deserve you defending them, but good job anyways.”</p><p>“Wow, thanks Emma,” Daniel muttered sarcastically. She only shrugged in response.</p><p>“Thank you, Nao,” Aaron said from behind them, his voice sounding genuinely grateful. They ignored him for the moment.</p><p>“So you two are….  what did they call you? Others?”</p><p>“I’m Walt, and this is Emma,” Said the man. “And… yeah, that’s us. Well, not just us  obviously. But we’re dealing with a lot right now, and honestly I think it would be better if you all stayed out of it.”</p><p>“Well…. we’re here,” Clementine commented. “You might as well use us. We came here to help, so I’ll pitch in if I can.”</p><p>“Me too,”  Elizabeth said, speaking for the first time since the crash survivors left. Aaron, Daniel, and Ji Yeon followed suit almost immediately. While Emma looked a little annoyed, Nao could tell that both she and Walt were going to accept the aid. </p><p>“I’m going to help too,”  It was Anna, surprisingly. Everyone looked at her, confused, wondering why she would have any motive to help the island. “Clementine’s right, we’re here and from what I heard the other day, maybe it’s for a reason. Count me in.”</p><p>Nao looked around and realized that they were the only one who hadn’t volunteered. Did they really want to? Were they going to risk their life for a bunch of strangers?</p><p>But as they looked around at everyone, they realized that maybe Anna was right. It could have been any flight after all, but it was the one they were co-piloting. They didn’t even believe in all that destiny crap, but they didn’t want to stay on the sidelines.</p><p>“I’m in too,” Nao said, breaking the silence. And they knew, from that point on, there was going to be no turning back.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Kalei! Lei come on, wake up!”</p><p>Everything was going wrong for Charlie Hume, a lot of which he didn’t even understand. Why were the Others doing this? They said they didn’t answer to Hurley, but Hurley was their leader. Why wouldn’t they?</p><p>The questions had been the only thing on his mind until Kalei had tried to run. Her screams still echoed in his ears, and she had been silent from that point on.</p><p>“Did you kill her?” He questioned frantically, still not being able to see due to the bag over his head. “What happened?!” The man holding his arms only laughed at him.</p><p><em>Come on Kalei, say something,</em> he thought. She couldn’t be dead. Hadn’t one of the Others said something about her being the one they came for or something like that? Still, the silence was not reassuring.</p><p>“Look, I don’t know what’s going on here,” Charlie once again tried to reason with them. “But something must be wrong, I’m-“</p><p>“We know who you are, Charlie Hume,” One of the women interrupted. “And we don’t care. If you keep talking, you’re gonna end up like your friend here.”</p><p>Using his better judgement, Charlie stopped trying to negotiate. Whoever those people were, they were acting more like the Others he had heard about in stories of the early days of the island, not the ones lead by Hurley.</p><p>
  <em>Oh no, did we time travel?</em>
</p><p>No, that wouldn’t make any sense, since they knew who he was. In that case, Charlie had no idea what the hell was going on. </p><p>He didn’t say anything as they continued to trudge through the jungle. He had lost any sense of well, everything. </p><p>“Stop,” One of the women, who Charlie assumed was leading the rest of them, said. “Get him on the boat.”</p><p><em>What?</em> Charlie’s mind was racing. A boat? Were they leaving the island?</p><p>“What’s happening?” He couldn’t help but wonder as he was practically shoved onto what he assumed was a motorboat. There was no answer to his question, and all he heard was an engine start. He could tell that they were moving, although he had no idea in which direction they were going.</p><p>The journey over water was much shorter that he expected, although that didn’t make it bearable in any way.</p><p>“Well, look who’s waking up,” One of the other Others commented along the way. Charlie heard a groan, a familiar voice that he recognized immediately. </p><p>“Kalei? Kalei, are you-“</p><p>He was cut short by someone jamming their elbow into Charlie’s stomach, causing him to double over in pain.</p><p>“Charlie?! What’s happen-“</p><p>“Would you two shut up!” The woman in charge yelled. “You can chat plenty once we get there.”</p><p>Charlie wanted to ask where ‘there’ was, but he also didn’t want himself or Kalei to be hurt again. It was good enough knowing that she was alive.</p><p>They arrived at some sort of dock, and Charlie was almost immediately practically dragged off of the boat by the rope binding his hands. From there, it was a short trip to wherever their final destination was.</p><p>Once they stopped, Charlie’s hands were untied and the bag was ripped off of his head. He gasped when he saw where they were: a Dharma facility, and a large one at that. Charlie, Kalei, and the Others that had captured them were standing in the middle of two animal cages, both of them being empty with open doors. They were on Hydra Island, and more specifically, at the polar bear cages.</p><p>“No,” Charlie said. “No, no, no, not here!” </p><p>Before he could protest more, however, he was shoved into one of the cages and slammed against the concrete wall. The door was locked before he even got to his feet.</p><p>“Hey!” Kalei shouted. “Let us out of here!”</p><p>No one listened to them, and the Others walked back towards the main building, leaving the two of them alone.</p><p>“Are you okay?”</p><p>“No,” She snapped. “How the hell could I be okay?!”</p><p>“That’s fair,” Charlie sighed, leaning against the cool bars of the cage.</p><p>“How did you know all of that stuff?” She questioned. “About the island, and whoever they were. And who the hell is Hurley?”</p><p>He looked down at the ground, deliberately avoiding making eye contact with her. He knew that had to tell her the truth. Not only was there the fact that there was no way around it, but also that he didn’t want to lie to Kalei anymore.</p><p>He told her everything, not leaving out a single detail. She was a good listener, but Charlie dreaded the moment that the story ended, dreading her reaction. However, what she ended up saying was not at all what he expected.</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“Wh- okay?!” Charlie repeated in shock. “That’s it? You’re not mad?!”</p><p>“What would be the point?” She replied. “We’re stuck in this situation together. Yes, you did a bad thing. But from what I heard you were manipulated by this Eloise person, and you didn’t have bad intentions. Look, maybe if we weren’t in this situation I would have been mad, but we are, and we can’t afford to fight each other.”</p><p>Charlie was completely speechless. He had been expecting her to yell, to want to get as far away from him as possible. But that was the exact opposite of what was happening.</p><p>“Do you have any idea why they attacked us?” Kalei asked. Charlie only shook his head. Everything was so confusing.</p><p>Panic settled over him. Had the Others done this wherever the rest of his friends were? Where his <em>brother</em> was? Were they alive?</p><p>“What?” She asked, probably seeing the panicked look on his face. “Charlie?”</p><p>“It’s nothing,” He replied. “I’m just worried about my friends.” <em>They can’t be dead,</em> he thought to himself. Maybe they had found the Others who were still under Hurley’s leadership, and they were alright.</p><p>Although, judging from what he had heard, it seemed that they were after <em>Kalei</em>, not him. So maybe his friends were safe no matter who they were able to find.</p><p>“We shouldn’t have come here,” Charlie said. “None of this would be happening if we just hadn’t gotten on that plane. Instead we got innocent people stuck here. We got you stuck here.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s true,” Kalei admitted. “You shouldn’t have done that. But you did, and you can’t change the past. Sitting around and feeling bad about it isn’t going to help anything. We have to get out of here.”</p><p>Charlie studied the cages. His had a concrete platform in one corner with smaller concrete blocks acting as stairs. He climbed up, but found that the top of the cage was still too high for him to reach.</p><p>Kalei, meanwhile, had no platform in her cage. Instead, there was some odd contraption that Charlie couldn’t figure out the purpose of.</p><p>“Try to jump!” She called out to him.</p><p>Charlie squared himself and took a deep breath before jumping up towards the top of the cage.</p><p>His hands didn’t even come close to the bars.</p><p>He groaned as he hit the concrete platform, having landed on his side. He rolled onto the dirt floor of the enclosure, gladly landing in the cold mud.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Kalei asked frantically. “Wait, that was a dumb question, don’t answer that.”</p><p>“I guess we’re stuck here,” Charlie sighed as he used the side bars of the cage to help him stand up. </p><p>The sound of footsteps coming towards them startled him. After all, it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes since they were put in the cages. Two Others soon came into view: It was the woman who had been in charge of the whole attack and the man who had been Charlie’s personal captor. </p><p>To his horror, they walked over to Kalei’s cage and unlocked the door. She shrunk back against the wall and quickly grabbed a sharp stick from the ground and held it out in front of her.</p><p>“Come with us willingly, Kalei, or we’ll have to force you,” The woman said in a bored tone. Kalei didn’t move, but Charlie could see the fear in her eyes.</p><p>The woman sighed and nodded to the man, who turned around and walked towards Charlie’s cage. Before he could react, the man pulled a handgun from his jacket and pointed it directly at Charlie’s head.</p><p>“Put down the stick and come with us right now, or we’ll shoot your friend.”</p><p>Kalei glanced between the terrified Charlie and the woman, clearly trying to think of a solution. She took a single deep breath before facing the woman again.</p><p>“No, you won’t,” She reasoned. “If you shoot him, you won’t have any leverage against me, and you’ll be back at square one. Whatever you want from me, you’re not gonna get it that way.”</p><p>Charlie gaped in awe. It seemed that the two Others were equally as taken aback by her cleverness, as neither of them really knew what to do next.</p><p>“Leave him,” The woman ordered, prompting the man to put the gun away and walk back over to the other cage. The woman then pulled out an odd taser-like device and turned to Kalei: “Do you really want me to use this again?”</p><p>Her eyes widened, but then narrowed again. She showed no more fear.</p><p>Charlie, on the other hand? He was afraid for her, he was scared of what they would do to her. The last thing he wanted was for Kalei to get hurt.</p><p>Suddenly, Kalei lunged forward, stabbing at the woman with the sharp end of the stick. Unfortunately, the woman seemed to have seen it coming, and she dodged the blow, the stick only scraping her side.</p><p>Before Kalei could do anything else, the woman jammed the taser into her side. She yelled in pain, falling to the ground and shaking.</p><p>“Kalei!” Charlie shouted. “Hey, leave her alone! Take me instead!” He was completely ignored by the two Others, who picked up the still writhing Kalei and began to drag her toward the main building of Hydra Island.</p><p>Charlie was helpless to do anything.</p><p>“Kalei! Please don’t hurt her, please!” </p><p>But as he watched their silhouettes get smaller and smaller, he knew that there was no hope.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kate Austen was growing more desperate every day.</p><p>It had been nearly three weeks since it happened, and she had barely slept. All she cared about was finding the island and getting her children back.</p><p>She picked up her phone and tried calling the number that Hurley had given her years ago to contact the island, but there was no answer. Just like the other hundreds of times she had tried calling it.</p><p>“No one’s gonna answer, Freckles,” Came a voice. Kate looked over to see Sawyer standing in the doorway. Everyone had been staying at Kate and Claire’s house since it happened, everyone who had been on the Ajira plane when it left the island. Desmond and Penny were elsewhere, out at sea, not having heard the news yet. Everyone else was at least trying to get some sleep at the moment, except, apparently, Sawyer.</p><p>“It can’t hurt to try,” Kate replied.</p><p>“Yes, it can,” Sawyer said as he walked over. He took the phone out of her hands and put it on a table behind him. “It’ll just make you worry more.”</p><p>She sighed, knowing that he was right but not wanting to admit it. </p><p>“This is the only way we can contact the island,” She said. “And it doesn’t even fucking work.”</p><p>“We could just try flying back and forth from Sydney,” Sawyer suggested. “But that’s probably not gonna work either. Besides, that might not be the damn flight anymore, and no one knows how to find which new flight will crash.”</p><p>Kate suddenly sat bolt upright, Sawyer’s lament having triggered a memory. She looked at him with wide, wild eyes, and answered his look of confusion in just a few words.</p><p>“Someone <em>does</em> know.”</p><p>								…</p><p>“This is a bad idea.”</p><p>“Really, I didn’t notice that the first hundred times you said that,” Kate retorted sarcastically. It had been Miles who had been insisting that they were all idiots, even though he was there as well. Everyone was in Sawyer’s van, on the way to the Lamp Post station.</p><p>“Yeah, this is a bad idea, but it’s also the only one we have,” Claire added. Kate nodded in agreement. Claire always seemed to be able to say exactly what Kate was thinking.</p><p>“Is this it?” Sawyer called from the driver’s seat. Kate grabbed the pack of the passenger chair, where Frank was sitting, and peered out the window. They were outside an old church, one that was similar to the description Kate had heard of the place.</p><p>“Yeah,” She whispered. “Let’s go.”</p><p>“Did I mention that this is a horrible idea?” Miles groaned.</p><p>“We know,” Richard sighed, speaking for the first time since they had left. If even he was getting exasperated with Miles, that meant he was really being aggravating. </p><p>Once they all got out of the car, everyone hesitated, no one wanting to take the first step. Kate couldn’t really blame them.</p><p>She took a deep breath and then walked up the steps to get there. She didn’t look back to see if anyone followed, although they did, as she opened the large stone door. It was empty, as it probably always was, and Kate’s footsteps echoed on the sleek marble floor.</p><p>“Eloise Hawking!” She yelled. “I know you’re here!” </p><p>A section of the wall opened ominously, causing Kate to nearly jump. From behind it walked out a familiar white-haired woman, one that was not even attempting to hide.</p><p>“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Eloise asked, her voice laced with false politeness. </p><p>“Can you find the island?” It was Claire who asked that. She had walked up next to Kate and was staring at Eloise with her arms crossed. </p><p>“You want to go back? How do you even know your children are there?”</p><p>“Where else would they-“ Kate started to say before cutting herself off. “Wait. How exactly did you know that?”</p><p>Kate could very clearly see the moment Eloise realize that she fucked up. Her eyes went wide, and she muttered something to herself.</p><p>“Hold on, did you tell them to go back to the island?” Sawyer asked angrily. </p><p>“I-“</p><p>“You’re really on a roll here,” Miles muttered.</p><p>“What did you say to them?!” Kate demanded. “Did you tell them it was their <em>destiny</em> or some other bullshit like that?”</p><p>“Would everyone stop talking?” Eloise said calmly, annoyingly calmly. “Yes, I did tell them that they had to go to the island, but they came to me.” Someone behind Kate snorted. “I told them the island needs them, because it does. You must have noticed the lack of communication from there recently.”</p><p><em>Damn it,</em> Kate thought. <em>She’s making sense.</em></p><p>“Eloise,” Richard said, walking past Kate. “Please, tell us the truth. I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re hiding something.”</p><p>She looked at the ground, meaning that Richard was definitely on to something. </p><p>“They’re barely adults,” He continued. “You know what it’s like to lose your child.”</p><p>That was what finally broke her. She looked up at them, tears filling her eyes. </p><p>“It was all for him,” She whispered. “Daniel. <em>He</em> promised that he could bring him back….” Kate felt a chill run through her. There was only one person Eloise could be talking about.</p><p>“You want to bring back that….. that <em>thing</em>,” She whispered. “The smoke monster.”</p><p>There was a silence as Eloise didn’t deny Kate’s accusation.</p><p>“Something is happening on the island,” She continued. “You sent them there to distract from that, so whoever you’re working with can bring it back.”</p><p>“I only did it for-“</p><p>“Bullshit!” Miles interrupted Eloise, angrily pushing through the rest of them to face her. “You don’t care about Daniel! You never did, and if you had, you would have known he wouldn’t want you to do this. You didn’t even try to change things, you just forced him to become what you wanted and sent him to that island to die!”</p><p>Eloise had gone paler that Kate thought was humanly possible. Everyone else was staring, shocked, at Miles. Gone was the sarcasm and quips, replaced by pure anger.</p><p>“There is…. a conflict on the island, yes,” She admitted. “And I did send them there to distract the other side. Is that what you wanted to hear from me?!”</p><p>“Just one more thing,” Kate replied. “How do we get to the island?” Eloise let out a long sigh, but she moved back over to the door she had walked out of, gesturing for them to go in.</p><p>“Follow me.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Elizabeth had been given the assignment to retrieve weapons.</p><p>Well, her and Anna. For the past few hours, they had been going around to various Dharma stations, collecting what they could. Unfortunately, the stations were all very far apart, which meant a whole lot of walking.</p><p>And a whole lot of alone time with just one other person. </p><p>“Why aren’t you angry?” Elizabeth asked her. “I got you stuck on this island and you’re not mad at all?”<br/>“Honestly? Yeah, I’m mad,” Anna replied. “But something about this place… it feels right, you know?” Elizabeth did know. She hadn’t wanted to admit it to anyone, including herself, but she felt more at home on the island than she did anywhere else.</p><p>“I think we’re here,” Elizabeth said, changing the subject as a large cliff came into view. Parts of a yellow Beechcraft plane were strewn around at the base. “The Pearl.”</p><p>“How did they name these things?” She asked. “The Swan, the Pearl, what do those have to do with anything?”</p><p>“The Dharma Initiative was weird as fuck,” Elizabeth answered. “And I honestly have no idea.”</p><p>The two of them moved to where the metal door was and managed to open it together. It was heavy, but both of them were decently strong and managed to heave it onto the dirt ground.</p><p>“After you,” Anna said, gesturing to the hatch below. Elizabeth sighed quietly and climbed down the small ladder. She jumped down from a lower rung and landed on the cool metal floor of the station. There were small TVs lining the walls, and a chute surrounded by a neat pile of notebooks.</p><p>Anna came down a few seconds later, her black hiking boots hitting the floor loudly.</p><p>“Nice place,” She commented. </p><p>“Yeah, but where are the supplies?”</p><p>“Shouldn’t you know?”</p><p>Elizabeth was slightly taken aback. She didn’t know anything about the place, or a lot of the stuff on the island, for that matter. But she had willingly brought that plane down anyways, and she had brought people she cared about along with her.</p><p>“No,” She whispered. “I’ve never actually been here before, anything I know about the island comes from stories.”</p><p>Anna was silent, and Elizabeth wondered if she could tell that the weight of what she’d done was threatening to crush her. </p><p>“I think it’s over here...” Anna trailed off as she walked towards the back of the room, clearly sensing Elizabeth’s awkwardness. She opened a chest-like storage space and nodded. “Yep, weapons.”</p><p>“I’ll go back up, you can lift them up to me,” Elizabeth said, beginning to climb back up the ladder. She looked up, out of the hatch, and froze.</p><p>“Dad?”</p><p>She couldn’t believe her eyes. It couldn’t be, her father was dead, after all. And yet, the person staring at her was most definitely Jack Shepherd.</p><p>“Are... are you the smoke monster?” She asked. “Did you take his form?”</p><p>“You’re so much smarter that I was,” He replied. “I wish I had more sense than that when I saw my dead father.”</p><p>“Elizabeth?” Anna called out. “What’s going on?” She turned to see that Anna had walked over and was looking at her strangely.</p><p>“Do you not see him?”</p><p>“Who are you talking about?” She asked. “Elizabeth, are you okay?”</p><p><em>Am I going crazy?</em> Elizabeth wondered. </p><p>“If you’re not the smoke monster then... who are you?”</p><p>“I’m what’s left of me,” He whispered. </p><p>“Elizabeth...“</p><p>“I’m not crazy,” She interrupted. “This is real.”</p><p>“Elizabeth-“</p><p>“You really can’t see him?!” Elizabeth said, raising her voice slightly.</p><p>“I-“ Anna cut herself short. “Slow, down okay? Who do you see?”</p><p>“It’s my father,” She whispered. “Some sort of... ghost.” Anna was looking at her skeptically, but Elizabeth could see that there was a hint of belief behind her eyes.</p><p>“I need to show you something,” Jack said. Elizabeth glanced between him and Anna, who was holding the bag of supplies they had gathered. </p><p>“Why can’t she see you?”</p><p>“You have my blood, and your friend does not.”</p><p><em>Your friend.</em> Was Anna her friend? She had certainly been kinder to Elizabeth than many people at the beach, but she didn’t deserve that kindness whatsoever.</p><p>“I don’t see anything,” Anna began. “But I believe you.” Elizabeth gave her a small, grateful smile before climbing out of the Pearl station and looking around to see Jack staring at the remains of the Beechcraft.</p><p>“This is where Boone fell,” He sighed. “I blamed John... and it was his fault, but it was mine too.”</p><p>“Is this what I need to see?”</p><p>He glanced at her and shook his head, saying, “This is just an old memory.” Anna climbed out of the hatch and followed Elizabeth’s eyeline with her own eyes to where Jack was standing.</p><p>“People died here?” She guessed. Elizabeth only nodded in response as Jack started to walk away. He noticed her watching and gestured for her to follow before continuing on. However, before going, she paused and turned to Anna.</p><p>“You don’t have to come with me,” She said. “I wouldn’t blame you.”</p><p>”I’m coming with you,” Anna replied, walking towards her and placing her left hand on Elizabeth’s arm.</p><p>“Then... follow me.”</p><p>			...</p><p>
  <em>Elizabeth used to sneak around a lot.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It annoyed the hell out of everyone around her, but she found that it was the best way to get information that she wouldn’t know otherwise.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“They’re never going to the island, Kate!” Her two mothers were arguing one night in the kitchen of their house, and Elizabeth was crouched behind a wall that blocked the sight of the staircase, only nine years old at the time. Aaron was upstairs, probably asleep. He was too nice to eavesdrop.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“It’s not the same as when we left it,” Kate argued. “Come on, Claire, it’s safe there now.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I can’t believe this,” Elizabeth’s other mom muttered. “You off all people want to take them there?! After what happened to Jack?!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kate went silent, and Elizabeth frowned. Jack was her father, wasn’t he? She knew that he died, but she didn’t know how. Was that what they were taking about?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I still think they should at least see it,” Kate said. ”They should know their own history.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“The same history we agreed to never revisit?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Not never,” Kate muttered, emphasizing the second word. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You want to take Aaron back after everything we did to get him away from that place?” Claire questioned. “You want to take Elizabeth back after Jack’s sacrifice?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Kate sighed. Elizabeth could hear them embrace. There was a muffled sound of crying, although she wasn’t sure who it was coming from.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I don’t want them to get hurt,” Claire whispered. Kate said something quietly that Elizabeth couldn’t hear.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>She tuned out the rest of the conversation, only one thing being on her mind: She wanted to go to the island.</em>
</p><p>			...</p><p>Jack led Elizabeth and Anna through the jungle for a little over twenty minutes, with the two of them switching the supply bag between each other.</p><p>“Are you sure about this?” Anna whispered to her. Elizabeth turned back and nodded, although internally, she was asking herself a similar question. Was she seeing things? Was she only imagining Jack to be there?</p><p>Did she have too much faith in the island?</p><p>“We’re here,” Jack announced as they stopped outside some sort of cave. “This is what I need to show you.” Elizabeth quickly relayed that information to Anna before walking inside. The cave had a flowing water spring and an extremely high ceiling. However, what Jack was walking towards was a small, natural alcove in the wall.</p><p>Elizabeth gasped when she saw what was there.</p><p>“Are those bodies?” Anna whispered from behind her. She only nodded in response.</p><p>“This was his body,” Jack began. “The smoke monster, Jacob’s brother, whatever you want to call him. His body died the day he became the monster.”</p><p>“Why are you showing me this?”</p><p>“Not everything is just black and white, Elizabeth,” He said. “There is no good or evil. Not even him.” Jack walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “And not you.”</p><p>Elizabeth looked up at him, slightly confused as to what he meant by adding her as an example.</p><p>“You blame yourself for all of this,” He said, gesturing around with his other hand. “You need to understand that it’s not all your fault. Partially? Yes. But you don’t need to carry this burden on your own.”</p><p>Tears began to stream down Elizabeth’s face as Jack started to walk away. Everything that she had been holding inside of her was coming out.</p><p>“I’m so proud of you, Elizabeth,” He whispered. Before she could say anything, he faded entirely, disappearing quicker than he had come. </p><p>She sank to her knees and began to sob into her hands. She had finally seen her father, and then he was just... gone. Gone, after telling her that she wasn’t to blame for a crash that she had a large hand in causing.</p><p>But maybe that’s what he was talking about. Maybe she was blaming herself too much. </p><p>She felt an arm go around her shoulder, and turned to see that it was Anna, looking at her with a very concerned expression on her face. </p><p>“Are you okay?” She asked, genuine worry in her voice.</p><p>“I... yes,” Elizabeth said. Surprisingly, she meant that. Mostly, at least. “Thank you, thank you for believing me.”</p><p>Anna smiled at her and held out a hand to help Elizabeth to her feet. She gladly took it and stood up, brushing the dirt off of her pants.</p><p>“We should get back to the beach,” Anna said. “You ready?” </p><p>“Yeah,” Elizabeth replied. “Let’s go.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kalei could tell that she didn’t have much life left in her. The Others, as Charlie had called them, had taken her inside the building and had begun to drain her blood. When she had demanded to know why, she was met with silence.</p><p>All she did know was that she was slowly being killed with no chance of escape. </p><p>She hoped that they had let Charlie go, at least. Then one of them would survive.</p><p>She heard a door open, but she couldn’t turn her head due to the restraints that had been put in place to keep her from escaping. However, she could hear every word perfectly.</p><p>“How is it going?” Asked a man with an unfamiliar voice, probably the one who had just walked in.</p><p>“Everything is going according to the plan,” The woman answered. “It’ll take a while to get everything we need, but the process is going smoothly.”</p><p>“Excellent.”</p><p>She could hear the sound of heavy footsteps coming towards her, and she squirmed on the table, desperately trying to get loose.</p><p>“Hello, Kalei,” The man said as he came into view. He was bald, with eyes that seemed to be a million years old. And yet, there was something about him... something that wasn’t entirely human.</p><p>“What are you?” She whispered. </p><p>“Most people call me Locke now,” He said. Kalei’s eyes went wide as she realized exactly who she was talking to.</p><p>“You’re the one Charlie told me about,” She gasped. “The smoke monster.”</p><p>Locke tilted his head in confirmation. </p><p>“What do you want from me?” Kalei asked. </p><p>“You’re very special, Kalei, has anyone ever told you that?” He said. She refused to answer him, so he continued talking. “You were born over a pocket of electromagnetic energy, the same energy that stems from the light. I’m sure your friend told you all about that. That energy is in your blood, and I need it.”</p><p>Kalei could only stare in horror. <em>That’s</em> why they needed her blood. She was going to aid this monster whether she liked it or not.</p><p>Locke’s words brought a memory to the forefront of her mind, of the time she had met her father. He had told her something similar, that she was strange.</p><p>Special.</p><p>She started to breathe heavily. She had to get out of there somehow, but there was no way for her to escape. She was all out of options.</p><p>Well, except to keep Locke talking long enough to find a way out.</p><p>“I was told that you died,” Kalei said, all the while attempting to get her left hand, which was her dominant hand, out of the metal restraint.</p><p>“I did,” He replied. “Until Jack Shephard brought back the light. I was tethered to it, you see. As long as it was alive, so was I. But I was as good as dead then, and I’ve been rebuilding myself for the past twenty one years. Nothing could help me… until I found out about you. I had a contact on the mainland who made sure the flight crashed <em>and</em> you were on it.”</p><p>Her hand was nearly out, but she needed to distract him from seeing what she was doing. Kalei’s mind raced for another question she could ask, and thought of one that she did actually want to know the answer to.<br/>“Why did you wait two weeks before attacking us?”</p><p>“So you could develop a bond with someone else,” He answered. “Why do you think your friend Charlie Hume survived the attack too? We were going to use him to force you to help us. You did outsmart us there, but you’re here now. In fact… I don’t think we have much use for him anymore.”</p><p>Locke pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt and held it up, a wicked gleam in his eyes.</p><p>“Zack,” He began, talking to whoever. “Kill the boy.”</p><p>“No!” Kalei shouted. “Don’t hurt him! It’s me you want, isn’t it? So let him go.” Locke smiled, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile at all. Instead, it sent chills down Kalei’s spine.</p><p>Suddenly, Locke’s hand lashed out and gripped her left wrist, which was almost out of the restraint, tightly. She gasped, realizing that he had figured out her plan likely even before she did. He shoved her hand back into place and tightened the restraints on both of her hands, leaving Kalei even more trapped than before.</p><p>“Perhaps I’ll bury the two of you together,” Locke said before walking away, leaving Kalei alone to die.</p><p>									…</p><p>Charlie was panicking. Kalei had been gone for hours, and there was no indication that she was coming back. His own situation wasn’t looking great either, and he knew that soon, they would be back for him.</p><p>Sure enough, a man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties came towards the cage. However, something about his behavior was off. It seemed as though he was sneaking around, hiding from someone. </p><p>“Charlie Hume?” The man said once he reached the cage. Against his better judgement, Charlie nodded.</p><p>“My name is Zack,” The man said. “I’m going to get you out of here.”</p><p>“Wh- what?” Charlie questioned. “Aren’t you with <em>them</em>?”</p><p>“I was,” He said quickly, glancing down at the floor. “I made mistakes, I was wrong. But the point is, I’m making it right by helping you.” He began to unlock the cage door with a key he pulled from his pocket, but there was something else on Charlie’s mind.</p><p>“I’m not leaving without Kalei.”</p><p>Zack looked up at him and sighed as he opened the cage door, shaking his head.</p><p>“Your friend is as good as dead,” He replied. “And if you try to save her, you’ll definitely be dead.”</p><p>“I can’t just leave her here!” Charlie insisted. </p><p>“Charlie, look at me,” Zack said, grabbing his arm. “We’re going to fight these people, I promise, but we need to get back to people that can help. You can’t help Kalei if you’re dead.”</p><p>He glanced between Zack and the main building, conflicted. He knew Zack was right, but he still wanted to at least try to save Kalei.</p><p>However, eventually, common sense won out.</p><p>“Okay, how do we get out of here?”</p><p>“I have a boat,” He answered. “Locke can’t fly between islands.” He gestured for Charlie to follow him, and, after a moment’s hesitation, he did.</p><p>And they ran.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kate really hated flying.</p><p>Even before the crash, she was always uncomfortable on planes. Just the idea of crashing used to terrify her.</p><p>Now, though? Another plane crash was nothing.</p><p>Using some of the money from Oceanic that they all had stored away, they had managed to get a plane that all of them could fit it, with Frank as the pilot. They weren’t able to contact Desmond and Penny, but they had to go along with the plan and they didn’t have time to wait.</p><p>Kate only hoped that they hadn’t been deceived by Eloise <em>again</em>. </p><p>She looked around the plane. Richard was in the co-pilot’s seat per Frank’s request, having figured that he would be the most qualified. Miles had fallen asleep, and Sawyer was reading a book next to him. Next to Kate, Claire was fidgeting uncomfortably in her seat, her eyes darting around the plane.</p><p>“Hey,” Kate whispered. “You okay?”</p><p>“No,” She replied honestly. “I… I’m scared, Kate. If he really does come back… how can I face that again?”</p><p>“Together,” Kate said, taking her hand. “We’ll face it together. He’s not going to win.” Claire looked down at the floor, while Kate contemplated what she just said. There was zero guarantee that they would be able to beat him again. They were barely able to the first time, even when they had the ghost of Jacob on their side.</p><p>“I’m scared too,” She whispered. “I’m terrified. But we can do this, I know we can.”</p><p>Suddenly, the plane began to shake, ever so slightly at first, but the shaking grew and grew until it felt like an earthquake. </p><p>“Everyone hold on!” Frank yelled from the cockpit. Claire’s grip on Kate’s hand grew tighter, and vice versa. Across from them, Miles had jolted awake, and Sawyer was gripping the armrests of his seat for dear life.</p><p>Kate could feel the moment the plane began to descend, the drops making her stomach lurch. Frank was trying to get control of the plane, but form what Kate saw, that wasn’t a very likely outcome.</p><p>“I love you, Claire,” She whispered as the plane continued to spiral out of control. Until that moment, Kate hadn’t thought of the possibility that not all of them would make it out of the crash alive.</p><p>Then, just like that, the tables turned. The plane was still going down, but in a controlled manner. Frank had gotten it level, and it felt like any normal landing of a plane.</p><p>Kate held back a gasp as the plane roughly made contact with the ground, somewhere in the jungle. They plowed over trees and bushes, not coming to a stop for at least a minute. Eventually, however, the plane was no longer moving.</p><p>“Fuck this shit,” Sawyer muttered. Kate only nodded in agreement, too shocked to say anything.</p><p>“Is everyone okay?” Richard asked. The other five all confirmed that they were.</p><p>Kate never thought she would be back on the island. When she left on the Ajira flight, she told herself it would be for good. But there she was, back at the place she swore she would never return to.</p><p>She unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up, taking in her surroundings. They were obviously somewhere in the jungle, but she had no idea where.</p><p>Everyone else was slowly attempting to get up and out of the plane as well, but all of them were pretty shaken from the crash. </p><p>“We did it,” Sawyer whispered as they all looked around at the familiar jungle. </p><p>Suddenly, there was a loud rustling coming from nearby. All of them turned towards the sound, wondering who could have possibly found them so quickly.</p><p>Kate really shouldn’t have been surprised when Ben Linus emerged from the underbrush.</p><p>“Hugo!” He called out. “I found them.” Hurley followed from where Ben had come from, and he was staring at the rest of them in awe.</p><p>“You really came back,” He whispered.</p><p>“What did you expect us to do?” Kate replied. “We weren’t going to leave our kids here in the middle of your civil war.”</p><p>“How did you-“</p><p>“Eloise told us everything,” Richard interrupted. “We’re here to help. What do you need us to do?”<br/>“Oh great, more help,” Ben muttered under his breath, putting an emphasis on the word ‘help’ that made his statement sound sarcastic.</p><p>Hurley sighed in Ben’s general direction, but turned to face the rest of them, his eyes landing on the mangled plane.</p><p>“There were innocent people on the plane that crashed here,” Hurley began. “We have a way off, but I need Frank to help me with that. Richard, you might be able to get some of the dissenters to see sense. Everyone else…”</p><p>“Where are Aaron and Elizabeth and the rest?” Claire asked. “That’s why we’re here.”</p><p><em>Will I ever be on this island with Aaron not in danger?</em> Kate wondered to herself. He had really been though a lot, whether he remembered it or not. </p><p>“Where do you think the plane crashed?” Ben said. “They’re at the beach, but the way there is too long. The dissenters could attack.”</p><p>“We have weapons,” Kate replied. “This is nothing new for me, Ben, not after everything that <em>your</em> people did in those first few months after the crash. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m going to the beach.”</p><p>Even though she hadn’t been to the island in years, she knew how to get to that beach from pretty much anywhere. It wasn’t something that she could easily forget, after all.</p><p>“I’m coming with you,” Claire said, moving to stand next to Kate.</p><p>“Me too,” Sawyer added.</p><p>“I might as well,” Miles grumbled.</p><p>Hurley sighed, and Ben looked even more annoyed than usual, but clearly the two of them knew that nothing was going to change Kate’s mind.</p><p>“Be careful, dude,” He warned. Kate offered a slight smile before turning, ready to face what was ahead.</p><p>Live together, die alone.</p><p>									…</p><p>Aaron was still shocked that Nao had forgiven him.</p><p>If he had been in their position, he probably would have too, but Nao was so much tougher than he was, so much stronger. </p><p>Elizabeth had gotten back from her mission a few hours ago, and Aaron could tell that something was wrong. She, however, refused to say anything, and Anna stayed silent as well.</p><p>The five of them, the legacies, as Elizabeth called them, were all worried about the sixth member of their little group: Charlie. They assumed he was with the other tail section survivors, the only problem was that they had no idea where those people were.</p><p>Or if they were even alive.</p><p>“Aaron. Aaron! Hello, earth to Aaron!”</p><p>He looked up and saw Clementine standing over him and waving her hand in his face.</p><p>“Huh?” He asked. She rolled her eyes and gestured to where it seemed like people were congregating for some reason.</p><p>“Charlie just washed up on the beach with some other guy.”</p><p>Aaron stood up abruptly and stared at her in disbelief. Clementine only shrugged and ran back towards the commotion, with Aaron hot on her heels.</p><p>Sure enough, there was the familiar face of Charlie Hume, standing in front of a long canoe with another man, who was looking around uncomfortably. </p><p>Charlie looked awful. He was clearly exhausted, and covered in scrapes and bruises. But more than that, there was a haunting look in his eyes that made it clear that something terrible had happened.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, it was Daniel who got to Charlie first, hugging his brother tightly. While the two of them constantly didn’t get along, being siblings after all, Aaron was sure that they were putting all of that aside. If Elizabeth had been the one missing for weeks, Aaron certainly would have reacted the same way Daniel was.</p><p>“What is <em>he</em> doing here?” Said a disgusted voice. Aaron turned to see Emma, holding her rifle and staring at the newcomers.</p><p>“That’s Charlie,” Aaron explained. “He’s-“</p><p>“Not him,” Emma interrupted. “Zack.” All eyes traveled to the other man, who was purposefully not looking any of them in the eye.</p><p>“Emma…“</p><p>“He’s a traitor,” She said. “How do we know he wasn’t sent to spy on us?”</p><p>“Whoa, wait,” Charlie said. “He helped me escape, he’s not with them.”</p><p>“He could just be manipulating you,” That came from Walt, who had made his way to Emma’s side. “We all know he’s great at that.”</p><p>“Walt, Em-“</p><p>“Give me a single good reason I shouldn’t shoot you,” Emma growled. Aaron’s eyes widened as he realized that she genuinely meant that threat, and Walt was making no move to stop her.</p><p>“I didn’t know what I was doing!” Zack exclaimed. “I thought… I thought we were bringing people back to life, and I thought Hurley was against it-“</p><p>“Of course he is!” Emma yelled. “Usually when people come back to life on this island, it’s as a fucking smoke monster!”</p><p>“I didn’t know that he was the leader until it was too late,” He replied, his eyes trained on the ground.</p><p>“Hey, we don’t have time for this,” Charlie piped up. “Look, most of the tail section survivors are dead, except my…. my friend, Kalei, and the Others still have her. So you all can either help me save her or I’ll go on my own.”</p><p>“Of course we’ll help you,” Aaron said, walking forward. He glanced around at the other four, who all caught on eventually and nodded. </p><p>“What does Locke want with her?” Ji Yeon asked. Charlie only shook his head to signal that he didn’t know.</p><p>“It was something about her blood,” Zack offered. “She was born somewhere like the island… he said she was ‘special.’”</p><p>“Special…” Walt trailed off. “That’s what that means?”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“John, the real John, used to tell me that,” He continued. “Kalei is like me.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Daniel knew something was up the moment Charlie came to the beach.</p><p>There was something weighing his brother down, something threatening to crush him. Daniel wondered if it had something to do with the girl that was still in Locke’s captivity, Kalei. </p><p>However, as they were planning their next move, he didn’t really have time to think about that.</p><p>“We need to talk about the other people who were on the plane,” Ji Yeon was saying. “We need to get them off the island before anyone gets hurt.”</p><p>“There is no way that plane is ever gonna fly again,” Nao countered. “And unless there’s another plane on this island-“</p><p>“Well,” Walt interrupted. “About that.”</p><p>All eyes turned to him with varying degrees of shock. Even Emma seemed surprised, and she was an Other too.</p><p>“You guys have a plane?” Elizabeth questioned, being the first one to speak up.</p><p>“Well, technically it’s the Dharma Initiative’s plane,” He replied. “But yeah, we have one. “</p><p>“Hold on a second,” Daniel said. “If the Others had a plane the whole time, then why were they always taking the submarine? Why did they say it was the only way off the island back in 2004?”</p><p>“Submarines don’t attract attention,” Walt explained. “Planes do. They didn’t want Charles Widmore to find the island, and then they didn’t want the smoke monster <em>leaving</em> the island, so they hid it.”</p><p>“Well, they failed miserably,” Clementine muttered, probably talking about the fact that the Others didn’t want Charles Widmore to find the island. Daniel nearly laughed, but held it in due to the serious situation.</p><p>“The point is, we can use the plane to get you guys and all of the rest off the island.”</p><p>Daniel and Elizabeth exchanged a confused glance. Did he think that they were going to leave as well?</p><p>“We’re staying here,” She said. “We’re not just gonna abandon the island.”</p><p>“Here we go again,” Emma sighed.</p><p>“Look, I know I shouldn’t have gotten on that plane, but you all, especially <em>you</em>,” Elizabeth said, glancing at Emma when she said that last part. “Need to stop acting like I’m completely evil or something. I’m just trying to help, we all are. <em>Maybe</em> we should stop worrying about each other and start actually trying to beat Locke.”</p><p>Everybody was staring at Elizabeth with various expressions. Daniel, for one, was proud of her for overcoming the guilt which she had clearly been feeling. He saw that Anna seemed to be feeling something similar to him, as she was looking at Elizabeth with a smile.</p><p>“Damn,” Clementine whispered approvingly. </p><p>“Well,” Nao said, getting back to the planning. “I can fly the plane but… there’s gonna be a hell of a lot of questions about where we came from, and who knows what the other survivors are going to say, especially since they know the whole story.”</p><p>“We can’t leave them in danger just to protect the island,” Daniel argued. “We’re supposed to be the good guys, right?”</p><p>“There is no good and evil,” Ji Yeon said quietly. “Sometimes you need to do the wrong thing for the right reason.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s great and all, but this is just an island,” Daniel sighed. He looked around at everyone, wondering if they were seriously considering not using the plane. </p><p>“I think we all know it isn’t ‘just an island,’” Elizabeth added. “But Daniel is right.”</p><p>“I’m with them,” Anna piped up. “Look, I agree that this isn’t a normal place, but the longer these people are here, the bigger the chance that they’ll get hurt.”</p><p>Daniel looked between the two of them, grateful for the aid. They seemed to have formed some sort of bond when they had gone on their mission to retrieve the supplies, and it was certainly helping to bring everyone together.</p><p>“Alright, you guys can keep arguing about this moral dilemma,” Charlie said. “I’m going to get Kalei back.”</p><p>“Charlie, wait-”</p><p>“He,” Charlie interrupted, pointing at Zack, who was standing a little ways away from the rest of them. “Said that once we found you guys, we could help her.”</p><p>“We need to focus on stopping Locke,” Ji Yeon said. “Once he’s gone, she’ll be fine.”</p><p>“She’ll be dead before we even figure out a plan!”</p><p>“And do <em>you<em> even have a plan?” Emma questioned. He looked at her, seemingly about to say something, but then sighed, defeated.</em></em></p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Daniel wasn’t sure what to do. On one hand, he didn’t want Charlie to get hurt or killed, but on the other hand… he really seemed to care about Kalei, and who was Daniel to tell him that she was beyond his reach?</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I’ll do it.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Every single person present turned to the source of the voice: Clementine. Daniel wasn’t really surprised, to be honest. All six legacies knew at least basic self-defense, but Clementine was by far the best fighter of them all, and she was quite the force to be reckoned with.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Whoa, Clem, just think about this, okay?” Ji Yeon said. “Even if we do this, shouldn’t we have everyone?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“No, not if we want to be stealthy about it,” She answered. “I go in, I get her, I get us both out. Simple.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em><em>Simple.</em> Daniel nearly snorted.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I’m coming with you,” Charlie said. She nodded, clearly not expecting anything less.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“This is a terrible plan,” Nao sighed. “But if you two are willing to do this… Emma? Walt? What do you think?”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I think you all are idiots,” Emma replied. “But you knew that already.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Emma,” Walt sighed. She simply shrugged, and he rolled his eyes before saying to the rest of the group: “It’s not the best plan but it’s the only one we have. Like Nao said, if you guys are willing, I’m not gonna stop you.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Great,” Clementine said. “I’ll gather up some weapons. Charlie, meet me by the boat in five minutes, and we’ll get going.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>She jogged off towards where the supplies were, and the rest of them dispersed, leaving only Daniel and Charlie, who was about to walk to the boat.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Charlie, wait,” Daniel said. This prompted his brother to freeze where he was and turn back to face him.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Please don’t try to convince me to not do this.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I wasn’t going to,” He reassured him. “I just wanted to say... be careful, Charlie. Please.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Charlie’s features softened as he walked back over to Daniel and put his hand on his shoulder. His brown eyes were piercing as they looked right into Daniel’s.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I’m going to be alright, Dan,” He said. “And I know you’re worried, but I have to do this.” Daniel nodded, blinking back sudden tears.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Charlie gave one last smile before going to join Clementine at the long canoe, leaving Daniel with nothing but hope that they would both return alive.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>								…</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Kate was familiar with deja vu, but it was nothing like what she was experiencing now.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Walking through the jungle, back to the beach, with her fellow survivors at her side… it brought her back to the days after the crash, days that she would never forget.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>But it was different this time. She wasn’t thinking of her own survival, she was only concerned for Elizabeth and Aaron and the rest.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>And so many people were gone, long dead, not there as they should be.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Jack wasn’t there.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You know,” Miles commented as they walked. “If the smoke monster does come back, the first thing he’s gonna want to do is kill us.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Everyone stopped and stared at him incredulously, wondering why he would bring up such a thing. Then again, it was Miles.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Shut up, Miles,” Kate muttered as she started walking again, with the other three following suit. Miles and Sawyer fell behind slightly, leaving Kate and Claire alone together.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“He’s right, you know,” Claire said. “He’ll be after us. Especially me.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“At least you’re not the one who shot him and kicked him off a cliff,” Kate joked. Claire chuckled, but soon regained her composure, the joke wearing off quickly. “Hey, we beat him once, we can do it again.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Of course we can,” She replied, confidence seeping into her words. Kate smiled.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Uh, guys,” Sawyer piped up from behind them. “I think we’re here.” She looked up to see that, in fact, the beach was clearly visible and only a few feet away. Everything about it was so familiar, so normal, and yet so odd at the same time.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Without a second thought, Kate burst through the trees, causing everyone on the beach to look up at her. A blond woman had a rifle pointed at her immediately, but was soon stopped by a familiar voice.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Emma, wait!” And there was Elizabeth, running at full force. “That’s not one of the dissenters - that’s my mother.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Kate nearly collapsed with relief. Elizabeth was alright. She could see the rest too, Aaron and Daniel and Ji Yeon, all alive and mostly uninjured.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Where’s Clementine?” Sawyer, who had come to Kate’s side along with Claire and Miles, questioned, clearly fearing the worst.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“You just missed her,” Aaron explained as he reached the four of them. “It’s a long story, but she and Charlie went to save someone from the tail section who was taken by the dissenters.”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Kate wasn’t even going to bother questioning that. She had gotten up to much worse when she had crashed on the island, after all.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Speaking of crashing, her relief at seeing everyone alive slowly turned to anger as everything came back to her.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“Elizabeth Sun Austen, did you <em>seriously</em> go to see Eloise Hawking <em>and you believed her</em>?!”</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>Elizabeth gulped and looked down at the ground but nodded. But, in that moment, the anger dissipated, replaced by something else: understanding. Kate understood why Elizabeth went to see Eloise, and she understood why she wanted to go to the island. How could she be angry when she herself had done similar things.</em>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <em>“I guess,” Kate said gently. “We’re going to have a lot to talk about when we get home.”</em>
  </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Charlie was honestly scared by Clementine sometimes.</p><p>He was impressed by her too, of course. She was risking her life for a complete stranger, someone she hadn’t even met, just based on Charlie’s word.</p><p>“Clem, hey, before we get there, I just want to say thank you,” He said to her as they neared Hydra Island. “Thank you for helping me.”</p><p>“Thank me when we get out of this alive,” She replied, although Charlie could tell that she appreciated the sentiment. “Alright, here’s the plan: We dock the ship a little ways away from the station, and we go the rest of the way on foot. Zack said that the security cameras haven’t been updated in a while and there aren’t that many of them, so we just need to go around. Once we’re in the building… follow me and try not to get killed. When we have Kalei, run as fast as you can back to the boat. Locke can’t fly over water, so once we’re out there, we’re safe. Got it?”</p><p>“Got it,” He confirmed. Clementine turned and looked up at the smaller island as she did exactly what she said she would do and docked the boat on the sand of the beach.</p><p>She pulled out one of the many guns she had taken from the supplies and held it out to Charlie, but hesitated for a moment, much to his confusion. </p><p>“Don’t make it personal,” She warned before placing the gun in his hands. He only nodded, knowing that there was a chance he wouldn’t the able to fulfill that promise. He had a feeling that Clementine knew that too, but was warning him anyways.</p><p>“Follow me and stay low,” Clementine whispered. They walked through the dense jungle, getting closer and closer to the station with every step.</p><p><em>I’m coming, Lei,</em> he thought, even though there was no way for Kalei to hear him. He wished he could reach her and tell her that everything would be alright.</p><p>Then again, he had no idea if everything <em>would</em> be alright.</p><p>“We’re here,” Clementine said suddenly, holding her hand out in front of him. Sure enough, there was the large Dharma station, almost daring him to go in.</p><p>The next few minutes were a blur. All Charlie really remembered was Clementine finding all the right passageways and doors to get through. How, Charlie had no idea, but he trusted her blindly.</p><p>They were inside the station now, going to the most heavily guarded area, where Kalei was sure to be. There was just one problem, that being that it was the most heavily guarded area.</p><p>“Alright, I got this,” She whispered as they neared a large door with six people guarding it. “Cover me.”</p><p>“Wait, Clem-“</p><p>But it was too late to stop her. Clementine rushed out into the open, firing her gun and hitting three of them. The other half of the guard group figured out what was going on and dropped to the ground before any bullets could hit them.</p><p>Charlie, from behind, was trying to get a shot on at least one of them, but there was no way to do that without hitting Clementine. He could only watch as she continued to fight.</p><p>One of the guards was trying to revive their dead companions. With no luck, of course, but Clementine was clearly grateful for the distraction since it left her with only two people to fight.</p><p>She fired her gun again, but the two guards were expecting that. Luckily, they were in close enough quarters and in the heat of a fight that they didn’t have time to get the rifles slung across their shoulders.</p><p>The first guard that reached Clementine was taken out easily enough. She kneed them in the chest, sending them sprawling into the wall, where Charlie was ready. He slammed the butt of his gun over their head, causing them to collapse completely, probably unconscious.</p><p>Or dead.</p><p>Had he just killed someone?</p><p>Well, there was no time to dwell on that as the second guard, an agile-looking woman with dark hair, ran at Clementine with a knife so long that it was almost a sword. That guard didn’t have a gun, but judging by the way she brandished the knife, Charlie was pretty sure that she didn’t need one.</p><p>Clementine jolted back as the woman slashed at her expertly, but the knife still grazed her along the arm. She fumbled for her belt and pulled out her own knife, not nearly as long but still decently sized.</p><p>Charlie felt useless as he watched the two fight, knowing that he couldn’t shoot for fear of hitting his friend.</p><p>However, that feeling of uselessness dissipated when he remembered the third living guard. He turned the corner to see that the guard was still kneeling over the fallen guards and that there were tears in his eyes.</p><p>Charlie felt bad for him, just for a moment, which soon ended when the guard looked up at him, rage in his eyes.</p><p>“I’ll kill you,” He growled, reaching for something in his belt. Charlie stopped him by pointing the gun at his head.</p><p>“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will,” Charlie said, trying to stop his voice from shaking. “If you run now, I promise nothing will happen to you.” </p><p>The man looked at him, disgusted, before scampering off down the hallway, past the ongoing knife fight.</p><p>Speaking of which, was getting extremely heated. Both Clementine and the guard woman had blood and scratches all over them, and neither showed any sign of surrender. </p><p>Clementine brought her blade towards the woman’s heart, but her knife was easily parried. Charlie didn’t know much about the logistics of knife fights, but he could tell that both of them were extremely skilled.</p><p><em>I have to help her,</em> Charlie thought. But there was no way to help, not with the two of them moving faster and more fluidly than he had ever seen. Clementine was a majestic fighter, an angel of death who would never back down.</p><p><em>Maybe I don’t need to wound her</em>, he thought, the guard woman being the subject. <em>I just need to distract her.</em></p><p>Charlie took careful aim at the nearby wall and fired five shots. Just as he’d hoped, the guard woman paused, giving Clementine just enough time to stab her right through the heart.</p><p>“You okay?” He asked as she stood up and used her shirt to wipe the blood off of her knife.</p><p>“Just great,” She replied sarcastically. “Come on, someone probably heard the gunshots. Let’s get your friend and get out of here.”</p><p>Charlie couldn’t agree more and stood to the side as Clementine pushed the button that allowed the large door to open.</p><p>Inside was a room fitting to the door, with a raised platform going all the way around the room. There were stairs leading down from the platform to the main area, where a lot of medical stations were set up. </p><p>It was what was inside the main area that made Charlie gasp.</p><p>Kalei was there, but not looking like herself at all. Her braid was barely intact, and her usually warm skin had an almost green undertone. She seemed as though she was about to collapse, and that wasn’t even what worried Charlie the most.</p><p>What he was really concerned about was that John Locke - no, the smoke monster - was holding a knife to her throat.</p><p>“I knew you’d come eventually, Charlie Hume,” He said, his voice echoing around the otherwise silent room. “I wasn’t expecting you to have so little backup, but it is quite the pleasant surprise.”</p><p>Clementine began to slowly pull out her gun but stopped immediately when Locke held the knife a little closer to Kalei’s throat.</p><p>“Not so fast, Clementine Phillips,” He warned. “One wrong move and Kalei dies.”</p><p>Charlie knew he should say something, but couldn’t find the words. Instead, he looked into Kalei’s eyes, seeing the exhaustion and weight that was behind them. He was almost expecting her to pass out, but instead, she did something that he didn’t expect at all: She winked.</p><p>“Now, it’s quite the shame that more of you didn’t come,” Locke continued. “It would have been so much easier to get rid of you all. Maybe I’d have set a bomb, kill you the way I couldn’t kill your parents. But I’ll settle for-”</p><p>Suddenly, Kalei kicked backward, her foot hitting Locke right in the balls. Immortal being or not, Charlie knew that hurt. Kalei, however, wasn’t done. She grabbed the knife from a distracted Locke and plunged it into his chest before running as fast as she could up the stairs and into Charlie’s arms.</p><p>“Let’s go!” Clementine yelled. They ran, having to half-carry Kalei between them since whatever had happened to her clearly affected her greatly. They tore through the facility, with Clementine not hesitating to shoot anyone that got in their way. All they cared about was getting to the water before Locke recovered, knowing that if he caught up to them while in smoke monster form, they were as good as dead.</p><p>Clementine took the lead, getting them out the way they came in. They didn’t take a moment to stop as they sprinted for the boat, leaving the station behind.</p><p>The three of them practically jumped into the canoe, and Charlie and Clementine scrambled for their oars. They paddled harder than even professional rowing teams, leaving Hydra Island behind.</p><p>Kalei, who was in between the two of them and looking even worse in the daylight, glanced up at Charlie with tears in her eyes.</p><p>“You came back for me,” She whispered, her eyes sliding in and out of focus.</p><p>“Of course I did, Lei,” Charlie replied gently as she lost consciousness completely, getting some clearly much-needed sleep.</p><p>“I can’t believe we pulled that off,” Clementine said in wonder. “We’re fucking alive!”</p><p>Of course, that was the moment Charlie noticed the other canoe in the water.</p><p>“Oh shit,” He said. “Clementine!” She seemed to notice it too since she put her oar back in the canoe and pulled out her gun, assuming that the people in the other canoe were dissenters.</p><p>She fired, but missed, which wasn’t surprising at such a large range. However, Charlie’s understanding quickly turned to frustration when they started firing back.</p><p>“Fuck!” Clementine yelled, a bullet piercing her shoulder. She was about to fire back when, all of a sudden, the canoe vanished.</p><p>Charlie stared in awe. One second it was there, the next it was completely gone. How was that possible?</p><p>“Oh my god,” Clementine whispered. “We were the other boat.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Remember?” She said. “During the time skips, when our parents were here, they were trying to get to the Orchid and they were shot at by another boat. They time traveled away before things got serious, but my dad said that Juliet shot one of the people in the other boat. Me.”</p><p>Charlie gaped at her but knew that she was right. It made perfect sense, after all, and it explained why the boat disappeared. </p><p>“We need to get back to the beach,” He said. “For you and Kalei.” She nodded in agreement, and, together, they continued the journey back to the island.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At first, when the boat came back, Elizabeth thought she was dreaming.</p><p>Had they really accomplished their goal? Did the ridiculous and risky plan really work?</p><p>It seemed to be so, although there were clearly some bumps in the road. Charlie was carrying a girl with dark hair and brown skin, who she assumed was Kalei. The young woman looked as though she was deathly sick, although Elizabeth assumed that was not because of sickness but because Locke took a lot of her blood, according to Zack. Behind them, Clementine walked on to the beach, clutching her shoulder, which was covered in blood.</p><p>“What happened?” Elizabeth asked as she ran over. </p><p>“Exactly what it looks like,” Clementine replied gruffly. As she got closer, Elizabeth could see her wound more clearly and saw that she had been shot.</p><p>“Who shot you?!” Came a voice from behind her, having clearly reached the same conclusion. She turned to see that it was Sawyer, who was looking both angry and concerned.</p><p>“Wha- when did you get here?!” Clementine exclaimed, confused, looking first at Sawyer, and then past him at Kate, Claire, and Miles.</p><p>“You didn’t answer my question.”</p><p>“You just came here- oh never mind,” She sighed. “It was Juliet.”</p><p>There was a silence. Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, while Sawyer seemed to be frozen. Everyone else was in a similar state, wondering how that could possibly be since Juliet was long dead.</p><p>“What are you talking about?” He asked shakily. “How?”</p><p>“Remember when you guys were time traveling and all of a sudden this other canoe shot at you?” Clementine answered. “Well, that was us.”</p><p><em>Holy shit.</em> Elizabeth had always wondered who was in the other boat, but it was a question she never thought she’d get the answer to. But it was Clementine the whole time? She definitely didn’t see that coming.</p><p>“That was <em>you guys</em>?” Miles asked incredulously. She nodded, looking slightly annoyed.</p><p>“Look, these questions are great and all, but I’ve just been fucking shot,” She said. “So if someone could help me out, that would be really great.”</p><p>“I got you,” Ji Yeon replied. “Come on, I’ll stitch you up.” The two women walked towards the area where all of the medical supplies were and were soon barely visible.</p><p>“What about her?” Nao asked, gesturing to Kalei. </p><p>“She needs blood,” Charlie replied. “A lot. I don’t know what her blood type is…”</p><p>“I’m O negative,” Elizabeth said almost immediately. “I’m a universal donor, I can help.”</p><p>Everyone looked at her now, all with mixed expressions. Charlie looked more grateful than she had ever seen, Kate looked worried, Anna and Daniel, who had just made their way over, looked impressed, and even Emma had a slight smile on her face.</p><p>“You sure?” It was Nao, who looked slightly concerned. </p><p>“Yeah,” She replied. And she was sure. It was the right thing to do, of course, and she was the reason Kalei ended up on the island in the first place.</p><p><em>Stop blaming yourself for everything, Elizabeth,</em> said a voice in her head. She would have nodded, if not for the fact that everyone else would think she was crazy for talking to herself. Not everything was her fault.</p><p>“Alright, come on,” Nao said. “I can help get the transfusion started until Ji Yeon can help.”</p><p>“Me too,” Emma volunteered. </p><p>Elizabeth followed the two of them towards the medical area, with Charlie just behind her, ready to give her blood.</p><p>“Jack did the same thing once,” Said another voice. Elizabeth turned to see that Kate was walking alone with her. “He would have been so proud of you, Liz.”</p><p>“I… I saw him, Mom,” Elizabeth whispered. “In the jungle, it was his ghost or something. It was really him.”</p><p>Kate looked at her, tears in her eyes. Elizabeth had never seen her mother so openly vulnerable, not in front of her, at least.</p><p>They didn’t say anything more, but they didn’t need to. And, as Elizabeth resumed walking towards the medical area, she felt that she understood Kate more than ever.</p><p>									…</p><p>The funny thing was, Elizabeth wasn’t nearly as exhausted as she thought she’d be.</p><p>Sure, she didn’t have nearly as much energy, but from what Ji Yeon said before the transfusion, Elizabeth thought she would collapse. </p><p>But, she was fine, and, more importantly, so was Kalei. </p><p>She had woken up a few minutes ago, asking about Charlie and if he was alright. Once she was sure that he was, she relaxed a little, although Ji Yeon yelling at everyone else to give her some space probably wasn’t exactly comforting.</p><p>But, soon after, she came over to the rest of the group, using Charlie as support to walk. She already looked better, the green undertone of her skin having almost disappeared entirely.</p><p>“Hi,” She said awkwardly. “I’m Kalei… but I guess you knew that already.”</p><p>There was an uncomfortable silence, as no one really knew what to say, including Kalei. Elizabeth shifted in her seat, deciding that she would break the silence.</p><p>“I’m Elizabeth,” She said. Kalei smiled, clearly grateful that someone else spoke up. One by one, everyone else introduced themselves. By the time it came to the last person, the tension was gone.</p><p>Unfortunately, they had other, more unpleasant, things to discuss.</p><p>“What does Locke want?” Emma asked bluntly, aiming her question at Kalei. </p><p>“He wanted to use my blood to make him stronger,” She answered. “Apparently I’m ‘special.’” She said the last word using quotations, as if she didn’t fully believe it. Elizabeth couldn’t really blame her.</p><p>“Kalei,” Walt began. “Have you ever noticed strange things happening around you? People looking at you weirdly?”</p><p>“Uh… yeah,” She answered, slightly freaked out. “H-how did you know that?”</p><p>“Because it happened to me.”</p><p>“Dude!”</p><p>Everyone turned towards the sound of a new voice and saw none other than Hurley running towards them, with Ben right behind him.</p><p>“Hurley?” Kate asked. “Why are you here?”</p><p>“How’d you get here, Jumbotron?” Sawyer said at the same time as Kate.</p><p>“Long story,” He replied, very clearly winded and out of breath. “Richard’s taking care of everything going on back at the Barracks.”</p><p>“What’s going on there?” Emma questioned worriedly. </p><p>“You don’t know,” Ben sighed, remembering that fact. “Locke and his people surrounded the Barracks. Everyone’s trapped.”</p><p>Elizabeth couldn’t hold in her gasp. Nearly all of the Others were there, and they were all trapped. Luckily, Locke couldn’t get in because of the sonic fence, but someone was going to have to leave eventually.</p><p>“Then I guess we need to fight him,” She suggested. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.</p><p>“We have nothing to fight him with,” Hurley reminded her. “He can’t kill me, or any of Jacob’s candidates, but the rest of you are fair game.”</p><p>“We can’t go to him,” Ben added. “What we should be doing is sending someone to protect the light.” </p><p><em>The light.</em> Elizabeth had only heard stories of it, but she could imagine its sheer beauty and power. It was the sort of place that was both wonderful and terrible at the same time.</p><p>“Why would Locke do anything to the light if that’s what got him killed the last time?” Daniel said. “He’s not stupid.”</p><p>“We still need to protect it.”</p><p>“No, Dan’s right,” Charlie interjected. “What we need to protect is the people Locke’s gonna come for.”</p><p>No one had to say anything to know that he was talking about Kalei. She looked shocked at Charlie, surprised that he was advocating for her safely. Elizabeth hid a smirk. It was very clear how Charlie felt for her, even if it wasn’t clear to Kalei herself.</p><p>“Everyone stop talking!” Hurley suddenly yelled over the discussion that had ensued. Everyone shut up immediately, knowing that Hurley wasn’t someone who yelled often. Even the newcomers, like Nao, Kalei, and Anna, stopped talking as well.</p><p>“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do,” He said once he had everyone’s attention. “Two people will guard the light in case Locke goes there. If he does, you two need to contact us immediately and do what you can to make sure he doesn’t get to the source. Kalei, since he used your blood to get back to his full strength, your life forces are tied. If he gets you, and drains you completely, he’ll be even more unstoppable.”</p><p>“Our life forces are tied?” Kalei repeated. “Does that mean if I die, he dies?”</p><p>Hurley nodded slowly. Elizabeth looked on with dread, already knowing what Kalei was thinking. If she died, then Locke would die too. Things had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.</p><p>“Then you should just kill me.”</p><p>“Kalei, no!” Charlie exclaimed. “We can’t do that. It’s our fault that you’re here, and we’re not gonna let you die.”</p><p>“It’ll save everyone-“</p><p>“No one is sacrificing themselves,” Hurley interrupted. “Charlie’s right, we’ll find another way. Emma, Zack, take Kalei to the cabin. She’ll be safe there. Everyone else… Locke will try to kill you. Kate, Sawyer, and Ji Yeon should be okay, but-“</p><p>“Hold on,” Ji Yeon disrupted. “Why me?”</p><p>Ben’s glare told Elizabeth that Hurley slipped up and said something he wasn’t supposed to.</p><p>“Jacob had six final candidates,” Hurley sighed. “One of them was ‘Kwon’ but we didn’t know if it meant Jin or Sun. When they died… I tried to cross their names out, but it wasn’t working. ‘Kwon’ didn’t mean either of them, Ji Yeon. It meant you.”</p><p>Elizabeth thought back to her conversation with Eloise Hawking. She said that Ji Yeon had her own purpose to fulfill on the island, and that was it. She was one of Jacob’s candidates.</p><p>Ji Yeon was speechless, and looked shocked. No one could blame her, really. </p><p>“Alright, and the rest of you guys,” Hurley continued. “Lapidus is waiting at our plane, and he’ll take the other survivors of this flight back to the mainland in the morning. Any of you can go with them.”</p><p>“No way,” Elizabeth said. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m staying right here. I volunteer to guard the light.”</p><p>“Me too,” Anna added. </p><p>Everyone else chimed in with similar sentiments. Hurley looked more and more relieved with every statement, but he also looked a little worried too. Clearly, he didn’t want to put any of them in danger.</p><p>“Alright, Elizabeth and…. sorry, dude, I don’t know your name,” He said sheepishly, glancing at Anna.</p><p>“Anna.”</p><p>“Elizabeth and Anna will go to the light,” He resumed. “Emma, Zack, and Kalei will go to the cabin, and the rest of you will come with me to the Barracks. We can’t beat Locke, but we can take out his followers. Everyone leaves tomorrow, at first light.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A few hours later, Kalei and Charlie were sitting together in one of the few makeshift tents. Both of them had tried to sleep, but, unsurprisingly, neither had been able to.</p><p>“Are you sure you’re okay?” Charlie asked once again, worried. Kalei rolled her eyes, annoyed with his constant worrying, but really, she wasn’t annoyed at him at all.</p><p>“I’m fine,” She replied, although that wasn’t entirely true. Physically, she was much better, but mentally? Those scars were fresh. “So please stop asking. I shouldn’t be running away from the fight. There shouldn’t even be a fight!”</p><p>“If Locke captures, you, we’re all dead,” He reminded her. “And you’re not sacrificing yourself, Lei.” He carefully studied the look in her eyes but wasn’t able to tell what was going through her mind. He couldn’t let her die, not Kalei. Charlie couldn’t lose her again.</p><p>Kalei sighed in defeat, knowing that he was right, and hating it. She hated that she could end it all, her death for everyone else’s lives. She hated that everyone else was so damn stubborn. </p><p>At that moment, the flap of the tent opened, revealing Emma. She had more weapons on her than both of them had ever seen in one place.</p><p>“It’s time to go,” She said. Kalei nodded, and Charlie looked down in acknowledgment. Emma walked away, although she was clearly waiting for Kalei.</p><p>The two of them turned to each other and hugged. Words didn’t matter - they were able to communicate without that. While they had only known each other for about a month, there was a bond between the two of them, something too strong to be broken.</p><p>“Be careful,” Charlie whispered as they broke apart.</p><p>“You too,” She replied. With that, she walked over to Emma and Zack, who were waiting for her. Along the way, she noticed Elizabeth and Anna going into the jungle with almost as many weapons as Emma had. She silently wished them luck, knowing that they might need it.</p><p>Charlie, meanwhile, joined the rest of the group as Kalei disappeared into the dense jungle. He continued to look, even though she was long gone.</p><p>“Alright,” He sighed. “Let’s do this.”</p><p>								…</p><p>Anna still couldn’t believe she had volunteered to defend the light.</p><p>She didn’t even know what the light was. All she knew was that Elizabeth stepped up, and she decided to as well. </p><p><em>You’re an idiot,</em> she thought to herself.</p><p>“I think we’re almost there,” Elizabeth said, looking at the map Hurley had hastily drawn. It wasn’t very good, but it got the job done.</p><p>“That would be embarrassing,” Anna commented. “You know, if we can’t find it.” Elizabeth laughed. Anna was suddenly glad that she had dark skin, so that Elizabeth couldn’t see her blush.</p><p><em>Get a grip,</em> she thought. <em>You’re about to guard a magic light to save the world, or something. You don’t have time for this.</em></p><p>She didn’t listen to herself.</p><p>“Here it is,” Elizabeth whispered, stopping in front of a large group of vines. She was clearly hesitating. Anna couldn’t really blame her. She had only known about the light for a few hours and was already intimidated, and Elizabeth had been hearing about it her whole life. </p><p>Sensing that Elizabeth didn’t want to take the first step, Anna walked forward, right to the fabled light.</p><p>And oh, what a sight it was.</p><p>Anna nearly fainted when she saw the golden radiance that was the light, the sheer power that washed over her like a wave in the ocean. She sucked in a deep breath, her eyes fixated on it.</p><p>“It’s beautiful,” Elizabeth whispered from behind her. Anna could only nod in agreement as she walked closer to it.</p><p>“Stop!” Elizabeth suddenly shrieked. She did so, whirling around to face the woman. “We can’t get too close to it, we don’t have any resistance to electromagnetism. Locke did that and, well, you know what happened to him.”</p><p>Anna gulped and took many steps back. The most beautiful things were always the most dangerous.</p><p>For the next few minutes, the two of them set up their weapons and supplies, and they each took a post near the water, not daring to get any closer than they already were.</p><p>“I don’t think he’ll come here,” Elizabeth said. “Obviously we should protect it, just in case, but destroying it is what got him killed the last time. Well, we thought it got him killed.”</p><p>“Unless he’s an idiot,” Anna pointed out. Elizabeth laughed again, a beautiful sound, in Anna’s opinion.</p><p>“You’re pretty funny, you know,” She said. Anna only smiled, having never really been good with compliments directed her way.</p><p>“Nah,” She replied. “Maybe you just really have a bad sense of humor.” She immediately regretted the words, but, to her surprise, Elizabeth chuckled. </p><p>They sat in silence for a few more minutes, neither of them knowing what to say. There was so much to talk about and yet nothing at the same time.</p><p>
  <em>What if I die?</em>
</p><p>That thought chilled Anna to the bone. It was entirely possible, of course. While she hadn’t willingly been in a plane crash, she had thrown herself into that situation. She could have gone to the plane, but she stayed to fight.</p><p>She just hoped that she wouldn’t pay with her life.</p><p>Anna rubbed her hand along her prosthetic arm, a habit she had developed a while ago. Doing that made something else occur to her: on the island, not nearly as many people stared at her arm, stared at her as if she was some fragile glass sculpture. She had never been among so many able-bodied people who just treated her…. normally. Not until she came to the island.</p><p>It made her feel human. It made her feel real.</p><p>Maybe that was why she said what she did next.</p><p>“Can I kiss you?”</p><p>Anna clapped her hand over her mouth, mortified by what she just said. Did she seriously just ask  Elizabeth that? She couldn’t believe herself!</p><p>The woman in question was gaping at her, although Anna couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Was she disgusted? Horrified?</p><p>“I- I’m sorry… you don’t have to”</p><p>Elizabeth cut off Anna’s frantic apologizing by pulling her in close and kissing her. Time seemed to slow, the only thing mattering was Elizabeth’s hand in her hair, her mouth on Anna’s…</p><p>It seemed like hours before they broke apart, when in reality it only lasted a few seconds. But Anna still found herself wishing it could last forever.</p><p>“If- no, <em>when</em>,” Elizabeth began. “When we get off this island… do you want to, maybe… go out sometime?”</p><p>Anna froze for a moment before nodding faster than she had ever done, still inches away  from Elizabeth.</p><p>“I would love that.”</p>
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<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>cw for torture, claustrophobia, and a panic attack</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Emma couldn’t believe that Hurley was trusting Zack with Kalei’s life.</p><p>She wasn’t in any position to argue with Hugo, of course, but internally, she knew that it was her mission. As much as she wanted to trust her brother, she just couldn’t.</p><p>Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She could trust that Zack didn’t want to let Hugo down again. If it came down to it, he would protect Kalei.</p><p>Emma felt bad for her, she really did. The poor girl was brought to the island against her will, used to return Locke to his full strength, and then had the weight of the fact that if she died, so would Locke placed on her.</p><p>“Em,” Zack said quietly, from behind her. She sighed, already knowing where the conversation was going. “Please, just listen to me-“</p><p>“I’ve been listening,” She interrupted. “I heard you explanation, and guess what? That doesn’t change the fact that you went to work with Locke.”</p><p>“I know,” He said. “I know, okay? He… he said he could bring people back form the dead. Think about it, Emma. Ana Lucia, Eko, Libby, Cindy…. we could bring them back.”</p><p>“Oh yeah, because you wanting to perform fucking necromancy is gonna make me automatically forgive you,” Emma retorted sarcastically.</p><p>As Zack sighed, Emma noticed Kalei in front of her, looking extremely uncomfortable. She couldn’t really blame her. She wouldn’t want to be caught in the middle of their sibling drama either.</p><p>“You have every right to hate me-“<br/>“I don’t hate you,” Emma interjected. “I want to, but I don’t. I can’t.” That seemed to shut him up, as he immediately stopped talking, shocked into silence. Unfortunately, she meant what she said. What he did was horrible, but… it was still Zack. The same Zack who, until a few months ago, she could always count on. The same Zack who saved her life countless times.</p><p>“You guys have issues,” Kalei muttered. </p><p>Despite everything, Emma laughed. After a moment, Zack laughed too. The situation was so ridiculous, so absolutely absurd, that it was almost funny.</p><p>“I understand why you did it,” She admitted suddenly, looking at him over her shoulder. </p><p>He didn’t get the chance to answer.</p><p>A familiar sound filled Emma’s ears, a sound that filled her with dread worse than she had ever felt. The smoke monster had found them</p><p>“Zack, get Kalei to the cabin,” She ordered. “I’ll hold him off.”</p><p>“Emma, no-“</p><p>“There’s no time to argue! Just go!”</p><p>She could see the reluctance in Zack’s eyes, but he motioned to Kalei to follow him, and they disappeared into the dense jungle.</p><p>Emma took a deep, shaky breath as she pulled out her largest gun, prepared for anything that came her way.</p><p>What came her way about thirty seconds later was five of Locke’s people, all carrying various weapons in their hands.</p><p>She took out two with gunshots to the heads before they even knew what was going on. The other three dove out of the way as Emma continued to shoot at them.</p><p>That didn’t stop her, however, and she quickly lined up and fired her shot and one of them, who moved just a little too slowly. They weren’t dead yet, but they certainly weren’t going to recover.</p><p>Abruptly, before she could do anything else, Locke, in his full smoke monster form, rushed straight at her, slamming Emma into a nearby tree. She shouted in pain upon impact, and dropped to the ground with a groan.</p><p>Just as she was about to get on her feet, Locke’s two remaining men rushed over to her. One stomped his foot on the hand that was holding her gun, and she held back a scream. </p><p>Emma had been defeated.</p><p>While the two men bound her hands with some rope, she witnessed Locke’s transformation back to his human form. She stared in horror as the smoke grotesquely formed a man, a man she had feared ever since she was a kid. And that same man was walking right towards her.</p><p>“No, no, she’s one of Hugo’s best,” Locke said to his men, looking disdainfully at the rope that bound Emma’s hands. “She can get out of this.” The two men standing on either side of her glanced at each other, and she rolled her eyes.</p><p>Locke sighed, knowing that neither of them had anything else that would work. Emma would have laughed if it weren’t for the fact that she had just been captured by the most dangerous person on the island.</p><p>“I guess we’ll have to do things another way,” He said. “Knock her out, let’s bring her back to the base.”</p><p>Emma barely had time to react before she felt something sharp pierce her neck. Her vision wavered as her legs buckled from beneath her, causing her to collapse to the ground. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed completely was Locke, standing over her with a triumphant look in his face.</p><p>“You… won’t… win,” She gasped as she fought to stay conscious. However, she never heard Locke’s response.</p><p>								…</p><p>Emma awoke to ice cold water being poured over her.</p><p>She gasped as she jolted awake, feeling the cool liquid drench her skin. Her eyes darted around the room, taking everything in. She was heavily chained to a metal chair, probably some sort of steel. Locke and a woman, who was holding an empty bucket that likely previously held the water, were standing in front of her.</p><p>Interrogation, she thought. You trained for this, Emma, just stay calm.</p><p>“Again,” Locke ordered to the woman. “We want her awake.” The woman walked behind Emma, to where she assumed were supplies. She held her breath, knowing what was coming, but that still didn’t prepare her for the water soaking her once again. The woman had gotten closer and poured it right over her head, and Emma was fully conscious this time.</p><p>She gasped for breath as the woman moved back to Locke’s side, who had leaned in towards the chair.</p><p>“Hello, Emma,” He said. “It seems we have a lot to discuss.”</p><p>“Oh?” She replied. “And why exactly should I tell you anything?” Locke tilted his head in a manner that showed Emma that he was expecting that sort of response.</p><p>“My friend here,” Locke explained, putting his hand on the woman’s shoulders. “Is an expert on extracting information from even the toughest subjects. And right now, that’s you.”</p><p>“Oh, come on, not-John-Locke,” Emma scoffed. “I’m an Other. You can torture me all you want-“</p><p>“I will,” He interrupted. “I don’t want to do this, but humans can only take so much pain before they break, Emma. Even you.” He nodded to the woman, who walked behind Emma once again. She could hear the woman moving tools around, but she kept here eyes on Locke.</p><p>“How do I get past the ash?” Locke asked, leaning down so he was at her eye level. Emma stayed silent and braced herself for what was coming. “Tell me, and I promise we won’t hurt you.”</p><p>“Fuck you,” She replied. He sighed and nodded to the woman, who pulled Emma’s chained hand towards her. She walked into view, and Emma saw she was holding a large, extremely sharp knife.</p><p>Emma tried to not scream in pain as the woman slowly dragged the tip of the knife across her palm. She couldn’t help but cry out as her blood spilled from the wound, but she held in any information that Locke wanted.</p><p>“Is that really the best you’ve got?” She said, trying not to show the pain she felt. Locke had no response, and Emma heard something sizzle from behind her.</p><p>The woman approached again, holding an iron poker in a gloved hand. The tip of it was red, and it was likely the source of the noise she had heard a few seconds ago.</p><p>The woman used her knife to cut Emma’s sleeve away, leaving her entire right arm exposed. She held the poker close to Emma’s shoulder, but paused, knowing that the anticipation would make it even worse.</p><p>The woman pressed the poker to Emma’s still soaked skin. She screamed in pain as the burning sensation got worse and worse. All the while, Locke stood in front of her, his arms folded, and his expression being one of satisfaction.</p><p>“Would you like to answer me now?” He said once the woman stepped back. Emma was gasping for breath yet again, but still managed to regard Locke with a look of hatred.</p><p>“Go to fucking hell.”</p><p>There was a sharp crack as the woman slapped Emma across her face. She jolted backwards, feeling the sting on her cheeks. However, the feeling of pain was taken over by a feeling of triumph as she saw Locke’s expression of… worry? Confusion? She couldn’t tell exactly, but she knew that he didn’t have everything figured out.</p><p>And then, with just a few words, he did.</p><p>“Put her in the smallest space you can find,” He instructed the woman. “Let’s see how long she lasts.” </p><p>No. No, no, no.</p><p>Emma was strong, and she could handle a lot, but not that. Anything but that.</p><p>Locke seemed to notice her fear and smirked, knowing that his strategy worked. How he knew that about her, Emma had no idea, but he knew exactly what her weakness was.</p><p>“Not so tough now?” He asked. “Just tell me how to get past the ash, Emma.”</p><p>Stay strong.</p><p>“I’d rather die.”</p><p>“Oh Emma,” Locke said condescendingly. “There are much worse things than death.”</p><p>										…</p><p>One minute and she was already barely breathing.</p><p>The woman who tortured her had shoved Emma into a sort of crawl space and bolted the door behind her. She tried, she really did, to think rationally, to not let the fear take over.</p><p>But it did.</p><p>Emma’s breath came in short, quick, bursts. She curled up into a ball, not daring to open her eyes but still feeling it, still feeling the walls getting smaller and smaller…</p><p>She waited for a voice in her head to tell her that it wasn’t real, that she was fine, but no such voice ever came. No, the rational part of her was gone, replaced with pure panic.</p><p>She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She felt… she couldn’t… everything was overwhelming. Her entire body shook as she was wracked with sobs. The walls were getting tighter, closing in on her, with no mercy.</p><p>Her wounds burned, searing white hot against her skin. She couldn’t feel anything and yet felt everything at the same time. Everything was spinning, feeling like she was on fire. </p><p>Small spaces had always terrified Emma, but nothing like this had ever happened before. She would never let it happen, but she wasn’t in control anymore.</p><p>“Let me die,” She sobbed. </p><p>Emma could almost hear Locke’s laugh.</p>
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<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Chapter 21</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Daniel was scared.</p><p>He didn’t want to admit it, but he was. It wasn’t surprising, really. The smoke monster was terrifying, even to the bravest person. The island itself was chilling, but none of that fear really hit Daniel until Zack radioed in.</p><p>“Ben,” He had said, his voice crackling to life on Ben’s walkie-talkie. “Are you there?” Everyone stopped as he picked it up, holding their breath, hoping that everything went as planned.</p><p>Daniel could see that Charlie was especially worried, no doubt that it was about Kalei.</p><p>“Did you make it to the cabin?” Ben asked sharply.</p><p>“Yes,” Zack said, but Daniel could tell from his voice that there was more. “Kalei and I are fine, but… Locke got Emma.”</p><p>Daniel felt complete and utter dread upon hearing that, a sense of foreboding. It was <em>Emma</em> after all. Confident, tough, Emma. </p><p>And even she was powerless against Locke.</p><p>“Emma knew the risks,” Ben said. “And Locke won’t kill her, not when he can use her as leverage.”<br/>“That’s reassuring,” Daniel muttered sarcastically. </p><p>“Stay at the cabin, man,” Hurley instructed. “We’ll deal with this.” Daniel could hear Zack sigh on the other end, but the radio was soon filled with static, and Ben put it away.</p><p>So, in the span of about one minute, Daniel became anxious and afraid. For himself, for Emma, for Elizabeth and Anna, for everyone, really.</p><p>But, as they approached the Barracks, going to a set of pylons in the fence that Locke didn’t have covered, his fear turned into… anger. Anger that Locke was back, that the people who died trying to kill him all those years ago died in vain. Angry that Kalei had such a weight placed on her shoulders against her will. </p><p>Angry enough to want to kill Locke.</p><p>“All right, we need to be quick about this,” Said Kate, who had taken up a sort of leadership position. “We need to turn off the fence, get through, and turn it on as quickly as possible.”</p><p>“This seems dumb,” Daniel piped up. “Does no one else think this is dumb? We’re basically letting him in.”</p><p>“Maybe that’s what we should be doing,” Ji Yeon said from behind him. “We let him in, and keep him there. Then we invert the fence, and we trap him inside the Barracks.”</p><p>“We’re the ones he wants to kill,” Clementine commented. “If we want to keep him there, then we’re gonna be trapped too.”</p><p>“Emma’s not here, so I’ll say this: You all are idiots,” Nao sighed. Daniel had to agree with that. “But that might just work <em>if</em> we have a way to kill him.”</p><p>
  <em>Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.</em>
</p><p>That sound penetrated the air, causing them all to freeze. There was no mistaking it. The smoke monster was coming.</p><p>“Fuck,” Daniel whispered.</p><p>“Now or never!” Ji Yeon yelled.</p><p>In a split-second decision, Kate typed in the code to turn off the fence and ran through, quickly followed by everyone else.</p><p>Then the smoke monster came into view.</p><p>It was more horrifying than Daniel could have ever imagined. The giant column of smoke loomed over them, almost as if it could see into each one of their souls. In fact, it probably could.</p><p>Before anyone could do anything, the monster rammed into one of the inactive pylons, causing it to topple over, falling with concerning speed, right towards Hurley.</p><p><em>He can’t kill him directly,</em> Daniel realized. But a falling pylon was fair game.</p><p>Time seemed to freeze. There was no way Daniel could get there in time, no way anyone could move, including Hurley.</p><p>No one, that is, except for Ben.</p><p>Daniel didn’t know how old Ben was, but he certainly wasn’t young. He had no idea how he moved that fast, as if he was the wind itself.</p><p>And, in the blink of an eye, time was normal again. Everything felt like a giant rush, a wave crashing. And, when the rubble cleared, the monster had journeyed to the main area of the Barracks. And Hurley was fine.</p><p>But Ben wasn’t.</p><p>“Ben? Ben!” Hurley cried, kneeling down next to him. “W-we need a doctor, we need…”<br/>However, it was clear that there was no saving Ben. The pylon had crushed most of his lower body, and he was covered in his own blood.</p><p>“I’ll… see… John,” Ben gasped. And, with one last breath, his clear blue eyes went still.</p><p>“Ben, come on,” Hurley sobbed. “Don’t die on me, dude. Come on!”</p><p>“Hugo,” Sawyer said gently, putting his hand on the crying man’s shoulder. “He’s gone.”</p><p>“We have to make his sacrifice worth it,” Claire, who looked like she couldn’t believe she was sad for <em>Ben Linus</em> of all people, added. “We need to beat Locke.”</p><p>Who, meanwhile, was wreaking havoc upon the Barracks. May of the Others that were there fled immediately, but many had stayed behind to fight both Locke and the dissenters, who had followed their leader. There were a significant few who had died by the hands of Locke and his people.</p><p>“Miles!”</p><p>It was Richard Alpert, sprinting towards the group. Miles, who had been lingering slightly apart from the rest of them, actually showed some human emotion as Richard ran right up to him and hugged him.</p><p>“You’re alive,” He whispered. Richard didn’t bother replying, since that was obvious.</p><p>“Uh, okay,” Daniel began awkwardly. “What do we do now? Turn on the fence?”</p><p>“Look, I don’t know much about this place, but can we agree to do that as a last resort?” Nao asked. “‘Cause I don’t really want to be trapped in here with that thing.”</p><p>“Fair enough,” Kate said. “But we still don’t have a way to kill it, besides…”</p><p>“No,” Charlie interrupted, knowing what Kate was insinuating. “No one is killing Kalei.”</p><p>“There might be a way,” Walt, who had been mostly silent until then, said. “Ben was leading this project, in case the monster ever came back. They were building weapons with the sonic fence tech. They’re still in the prototype stages, though, and they’re unstable.”</p><p>“Well, we don’t really have another choice, kid,” Sawyer commented. “Hugo? Your decision.”<br/>The still-crying Hurley looked at them and stood up, looking determined.</p><p>“Walt, get the weapons as fast as you can,” He instructed. “Take a few people to go with you, and we’ll buy you some time.” Walt nodded and started to head off, but not before instructing three people to follow him.</p><p>“Nao, Aaron, Daniel, come help me out,” He said. For a fraction of a second, Daniel was frozen by the surprise that he was being asked to help. However, he soon broke out of it and followed Walt towards the Barracks, while everyone else spread out and joined the fight.</p><p>He just hoped they would all make it out alive.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So, yeah, here's a new fic! For now, updates will be every Friday, so keep a look out for those. And, for anyone confused as to how Elizabeth exists, I'm going with the theory that Kate was pregnant at the end of the show. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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